Hanna Amanuel

Since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right an abortion in June of 2022, 24 states have banned abortion or are in the process of doing so. For pregnant people in abortion restrictive states, the path to an abortion is digitally mediated: from searching clinic sites to ordering mifepristone or booking a ride to the clinic. And, the stakes of surveillance are high: people’s data have been used as evidence in criminal cases back home, and may be used for the extradition of people who assist in accessing abortions across state lines. While my project is ethnographically situated in abortion clinics and criminal proceedings, my object of study is the relationships between people from restrictive states seeking care, abortion clinics, insurance companies, tech and data brokerage companies, and law enforcement agencies. The question that orients my project is: how do tech corporations and law enforcement agencies collect, manage, and weaponize people’s data to surveil particular communities? My project also asks: how do targeted communities, reproductive justice coalitions, and other actors engage in processes of anti-surveillance, counter-surveillance, and alternative caregiving across state borders?