Youngkin administration opposes effort to shield menstrual data from law enforcement

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration used a procedural move to block a bill that would have stopped law enforcement from getting search warrants to obtain women’s menstrual histories from tracking apps.

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Proponents of the bill say they fear that information about a woman’s menstrual cycle could be used in prosecutions for abortion law violations.

According to a member of the administration, the bill was blocked in a subcommittee over concerns it would hamper law enforcement’s effort to get search warrants for other things.

“While the administration understands the importance of individuals’ privacy, we do oppose this bill,” Maggie Cleary, Youngkin’s deputy secretary of public safety and homeland security, said. “This bill would be the very first of its kind that I’m aware of — in Virginia or anywhere — that would set a limit on what search warrants can do. … Currently, any health information or any app information is available via search warrant. And we believe that should continue to be the case.”

The bill would have banned search warrants for menstrual data stored in tracking apps on mobile phones or other electronic devices like smart watches.

The legislation was passed in the Democratic-majority state senate and supported by half the chamber’s Republicans, according to The Washington Post.

“The Youngkin Administration’s opposition to this commonsense privacy protection measure shows his real intentions — to ban abortion and criminalize patients and medical providers,” Tarina D. Keene, executive director of the abortion rights group REPRO Rising Virginia, wrote in an email.

Youngkin has denied he wants to ban abortions completely but has said he favors a ban on most abortions after 15 weeks.

Virginia allows abortions until the second trimester of pregnancy — or about 26 weeks. If a woman seeks an abortion after the second trimester, it can be performed only after three doctors conclude “the continuation of the pregnancy is likely to result in the death of the woman or substantially and irremediably impair the mental or physical health of the woman,” the law reads.

Virginia allows doctors who violate the state’s abortion restrictions to be charged, but their patients cannot be charged.