Google will exclude visits to US abortion clinics from location history

Google announced this Friday (1st) that it will exclude from the location history of US users the record of visits to abortion clinics. Other places that the company says will have their records automatically deleted are counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics and plastic surgery clinics.

“If our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete those entries from their location history shortly after the visit. This change will take effect in the coming weeks,” Jen Fitzpatrick, senior vice president at Google, said in a statement released by the company. .

The announcement comes a week after the US Supreme Court decision that overturned the recognition of abortion as a constitutional right in the country. In practice, the previous understanding legalized the procedure throughout the country.

The change announced by Google responds to requests from pro-abortion activists who maintained that data collected by apps could be used by authorities to investigate the performance of abortions in situations not allowed under the laws of each state.