Period app firms express shock at police checks of women's data

Senior executives at leading menstrual-cycle tracking apps are “in disbelief” at new UK police guidance that suggests officers could check women's phones for the apps after an unexpected pregnancy loss.

- Phoebe Davis & Patricia Clarke

Rhiannon White, CEO of Clue, which has more than 10 million monthly users, said she was “very shocked” to see the guidance.

In England and Wales, abortion has been legal since 1967, but under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 it remains a crime for a woman to take abortion pills to end her pregnancy after 24 weeks. In recent years there has been an increase in investigations and prosecutions of women under this Victorian-era law.

Sue Khan, vice-president of privacy at UK-based Flo Health, said she “didn’t expect” to see the police guidance and “couldn't express anything other than shock and disbelief that this is the direction in which things are going”.