Surveillance and Abortion Care

July 22, 2026

“PREGNANT? TEXAS IS TRACKING YOU.” Billboards from Mayday Health, a nonprofit dedicated to sharing information about reproductive justice, get straight to the point. In Texas, a “dangerous surveillance pipeline” threatens health privacy. There are automated license plate reader cameras, which a sheriff’s office recently used to locate a woman suspected of self-managing an abortion. There are tracking tools to show a person’s visit to an abortion clinic. And there are internet search histories, which can serve as evidence of someone obtaining abortion pills.

The existence of this policing often goes unnoticed by community members. Mayday Health seeks to change that. Kenyatta Thomas from the Electronic Frontier Foundation interviewed Mayday Health’s Executive Director, Leo Raisner, about how the organization is putting surveillance at the forefront of Texans’ minds. As Raisner notes, even the simple reminder that surveillance is happening is powerful. But Mayday Health is also providing information about how to respond to such surveillance, including by directing folks to the Digital Defense Fund, which provides resources, trainings, and evaluations aimed at safeguarding autonomy and liberation.

We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation are thrilled to know that Texans are being educated about surveillance and reproductive justice. Like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, we believe that “surveillance and reproductive [justice] cannot coexist.” We are currently working with allies in New York to amend the state constitution so that it protects individuals’ right to privacy. In this day and age, ensuring that people out in the community know they’re being digitally policed — and, critically, ensuring that they also know how to protect themselves — is essential to promoting our fundamental human rights. Enshrining a right to privacy in our governing documents is the next step.