by C. Gordon
With Florida’s recent acquiescence to the six-week abortion ban, and with elected officials from other red states threatening to “monitor” women’s fertility and possible pregnancies, it is not surprising that women’s health and reproductive rights are driving progressive voter turnout this election cycle.
It is a welcome surprise that a first-time candidate for public office has, more than two months before the August Primary, proactively crafted legislation that addresses a key part of these abuses.
Amy Trask, candidate for Florida House District 22, has written a bill that remedies potential vulnerabilities to the personal medical data stored in phone apps women use to track their menstrual cycles. The thorough, well-crafted legislation she produced was a project for the Model Senate at Santa Fe College, at which she took top honors. The Model Senate is a three-day event simulating as accurately as possible in the space of three days what goes on in the real U.S. Senate
Trask’s bill limits how personal reproductive health data is collected and shared. The bill aims to protect data from period-tracking apps that the federal health care law known as HIPPA does not currently protect.
HIPPA, the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act of 1996, established national standards to protect individuals’ medical records and other individually identifiable health information.
Because it was passed in 1996, HIPPA did not include Fem Tech applications, the downloadable phone apps many women use to track their menstrual cycles and/or fertility. At this time such apps have over 200 million downloads and over 60 million users.
Trask’s bill includes provisions which would:
Upgrade information stored in these apps to HIPPA-level protection.
Charge app developers with the responsibility to comply with all relevant HIPPA regulations regarding handling and storage of the information.
Provide improved encryption of data.
Provide enhanced transparency and consent for users, and include geographical opt-outs.
To date, just five states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah and Virginia — have comprehensive data privacy laws that protect this sensitive information. Florida needs this, and can help get it if we elect the candidate who has already penned this legislation.
Amy Trask is a mom, a wife, a passionate advocate, and public servant. She currently works as a Landscape Analyst for Harvard Safra Center for Ethics. She focuses on philosophy and ethics, conflict resolution, and civil disagreement.
Her perspective on our hyper-polarized political environment: “Despite our differing beliefs, there’s a fundamental, bipartisan agreement that we all have a stake in each other’s well-being.“
To learn more about the legislation and about Amy Trask’s campaign for Florida House District 22, go to: VoteAmyTrask.com.