Abortion was one of the most important issues during the campaign. And now that Democrats are taking control of the General Assembly, they are hoping to make it a part of the legislative session.
Menstrual data stored in apps on smartphones should be off limits to law enforcement officials, even with a search warrant. That's the idea behind a bill introduced by Delegate Vivian Watts, a Democrat from Fairfax County.
"It is unreasonable to go after private health data," Watts says. "And we have done it before in other instances of improper searches and seizures and there's no reason why it should be open to a law enforcement search."
Senator Barbara Favola is a Democrat from Arlington who says this information should be off limits to law enforcement.
"The only reason law enforcement would want to access this data would be to enforce an abortion ban or to criminalize a woman or a provider," Favola says. "And that’s not a place where I think Virginia should be and I don't believe Virginians want to criminalize women or providers."
Last year, a similar bill passed the Senate but did not make it out of a Republican-controlled House subcommittee. This year, Democrats say they’re confident they can get the bill to the governor's desk. And they're hoping the spotlight on the governor will prompt him to take action to make sure this data remains out of the hands of law enforcement officials.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
