Mapping digital geographies of crisis pregnancy centers in a post-Dobbs Texas

Keywords: abortion,reproduction,surveillance,data justice,texas
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

Texas is in the midst of a deepening crisis in access to reproductive care, following last year’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that removed the constitutional right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade (Guttmacher Institute, 2022). Nearly half of Texas’s counties are considered to be maternal care deserts (Brigance et al., 2022) and it is now a felony to provide abortion at any stage of pregnancy. In this landscape, Texans seeking reproductive care and information are increasingly likely to turn to crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs). These facilities, which are not bound by HIPAA, frequently collect data related to identity, location, pregnancy status, and intention from those who utilize their services in-person or online. Some have even utilized geofencing to reach pregnant people attempting to access other reproductive health services (Sherman, 2022).

Scholars and activists have raised concerns about the larger implications and potential risks surrounding the collection and use of sensitive reproductive health data in the current legislative context (Conti-Cook, 2020; Goodwin 2020; Reingold et al. 2022; Clayton et al., 2023). Building upon recent feminist engagements with the politics of data production and use (D’ignazio & Klein, 2020), this project will investigate the digital landscape of crisis pregnancy centers in Texas, including their current online platforms and data collection practices. This project contributes to ongoing efforts to identify and map CPCs (Swartzendruber & Lambert, 2020), while grappling with the new ‘slipperiness’ and ‘unrulyness’ of anti-abortion campaigns that are increasingly mobile and digital (Thomsen et al., 2022).