'We're empowering women's health - new police guidance pushes us back'
Clue CEO Rhiannon White speaks to the Mirror about the detrimental effects of the new police guidance, which allows for period tracking apps to be checked should police suspect an illegal abortion
We're deep into our digital era. Kids are forming relationships with AI chat bots, shops and services are going purely online and healthcare is following suit, as a new AI tool is being developed for the NHS which seeks to predict who is about to fall ill. And so it is no surprise that the digital revolution on menstruation apps has arrived.
For the past decade, period tracking apps have replaced the traditional calendar for tracking the menstrual cycle. I remember marking X's on my wall calendar until the age of 16, before downloading Flo and keeping track digitally.
According to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated 50 million women worldwide use period tracking apps. Of the big three - Flo, Clue and Period Tracker - there are 250 million downloads combined, as per a University of Oxford study.
As a teen, this private and anonymous digital space was a godsend, as my GP was only referred to in emergencies for anything regarding my menstrual cycle. As I grew older, I was usually brushed off by my doctors for any period related issue - and I know I'm not alone in that experience.
My period tracking app - with everything from on-hand expert advice and content about women's bodies and sexual health, to personalised advice regarding my menstrual cycle - helped to fill a huge information gap in my life.
So when new guidance revealed that police would have access to this safe space should they suspect an illegal abortion, it felt like something special had been ripped away. It is another form of surveillance women would have to submit to.
The guidance, quietly released in by the National Police Chiefs' Council in January, states that women who experience a sudden unexpected pregnancy loss, if they suspect a miscarriage, stillbirth or early labour is the result of an illegal abortion could be investigated by the police.
The guidance further states that women could have their homes searched for evidence of abortion drugs and their phones seized for their search history, period tracking apps or fertility apps checked for evidence of whether they were aware of their pregnancy.
The Mirror heard from popular period tracking apps Flo and Clue, who said they were "shocked" and "outraged" over the new guidance.
Now, in an exclusive interview with Rhiannon White, CEO of period tracking app Clue, the detrimental effects of the new guidance were brought to the surface. 'What I find so upsetting about all of this is that it perpetuates the huge gap in women's health,' White told The Mirror. 'There's a lot of talk about the diagnosis gap, the treatment gap and the pain gap, but at the root of all of this is a data gap.'
White explains that women's health has long been an afterthought, a prime example being that women weren't mandated to be included in clinical trials until 1993, as stated in the NIH. 'Even today, 75% of trials don't include women in them and those that do include women don't disaggregate the data by sex, leaving the impact on women unclear. And 80% of drugs that are withdrawn post-market are because of unexpected side effects on women. We don't know the most basic information,' she added.
Clue is working to fill the data gap, with the permission of women who use the app to use their data to research health issues like PMS, endometriosis and other glaring women's health issues that seem to be ignored. 'If we don't do [the research], no one else is doing it for us, so I can't tell how upset I am as the new guidance just pushes us back even further," White said.
To understand the data gap in women's health further, you only have to look at the eight-year long NHS waiting list for an endometriosis diagnosis as one prime example. According to the charity Endometriosis UK, as of 2024, it takes an average of eight years and 10 months to get a diagnosis of endometriosis.
Knowing that the police guidance could deter women from tracking their symptoms and, in turn, contributing to what could be lifesaving research in the long run not only affects our gender, but also our society.
'The horrible truth is that reproductive surveillance has been a feature of female life forever, but the possibility of using this data to help (when it's of course properly anonymized and people are given permission) to push forward the research gap is really huge,' White says. 'It strengthens everyone's health when women are healthy.'
The new police guidance unnecessarily pushes back on the progression of women's health going digital. According to 2024 research by Bupa, women have embraced digital healthcare, with 73% of women open to using technology to improve their health and wellbeing, and Rhiannon has seen this too through her work at Clue.
She said: 'We really see a very powerful opportunity in supporting women and empowering women in that respect and taking charge of their health because bluntly we have to because no one else is going to do it.'
In the face of increased reproductive surveillance, worrying developments around women's bodily autonomy, and mounting societal pressures, White hopes women can filter out the noise with one mission: to protect their autonomy and trust their own instincts. 'I just want women to be able to choose what's best for them and have the information so they can make those choices,' White concludes.
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