Police in UK can now take women's phones and check their period tracking app

Several women's health and safety organisations have spoken out against the 'shocking' new guidance, vowing to 'aggressively challenge' it

"New guidance in the UK has handed British police the power to trawl through women's phones if they suspect said individual has undergone an illegal abortion.

As per an announcement made by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) last month, officers investigating the causes of stillbirths, miscarriages and unexpected pregnancy losses will now be permitted access to check menstrual cycle tracking apps.

The alleged aim of the incoming procedure is to 'establish a woman’s knowledge and intention in relation to the pregnancy.'"

#UKPol #ReproductiveRights #ReproductiveJustice

https://www.tyla.com/news/uk-police-force-checking-womens-phones-period-apps-illegal-abortion-468700-20250606?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwK3BkRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHo9dTikN0i4iv1z06L-2mGDMbTt-B-aQfQdTw9S4YfpfkHlnUeCPJOiHkX1C_aem_0lFBKwqqr27GIRjaumgqfQ

UK Police can now take women's phones and check their period tracking app

Several women's health and safety organisations have spoken out against the 'shocking' new guidance, vowing to 'aggressively challenge' it

tyla

@aby

The "National Police Chiefs' Council" featured in this article is not a government body, it's the reworking of a very notorious privately-owned company called ACPO:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Chief_Police_Officers

ACPO wasn't accountable to anyone and behaved very oddly, it was like a secret society for police chiefs, it even ran its own DNA database.

There was a BBC documentary in the 1980s about ACPO about how dubious and opaque it was, meddling in things that should have been under democratic control: https://archive.org/details/SecretSocietyPart4AssociationOfChiefPoliceOfficers-Acpo

It wouldn't be surprising if they have got up to their old habits of ignoring public oversight to push hidden agendas.

Association of Chief Police Officers - Wikipedia

@FediThing @aby
Some things are better done once for many allied organisations than by each of them.
Others are not.
Matching what is to what should be is unlikely to have a single correct answer with no discussion.

Among things ACPO usefully did, and the successor has continued, is a consensus statement about taking photographs. ...

...
I carry a printout of it, through I think 6 Police areas this month.

Having had to carry 6 would be inferior, and having it written 25 times, more so.