Facebook post of Minnesota woman's abortion records prompts criminal investigation

[question everything]

The posting of a Minnesota woman’s abortion records on Facebook without her consent has touched off a criminal investigation by state authorities while revealing the fragility of medical privacy in the social media era.

One of the Facebook posts, which apparently took place last fall, called the woman a “baby killer” and contained her picture. It also included a picture of her sonogram from a Planned Parenthood clinic and an admission form indicating how long the woman had been pregnant and the recommended methods of abortion for her to consider.

A cyber crimes investigator with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) obtained a search warrant last fall and traveled to Facebook’s California headquarters to retrieve data and information for three profile pages on which the abortion records were posted. The search warrant information had been sealed until recently so that the perpetrators weren’t tipped off to the investigation.

One of the Facebook pages, which has nearly 3,000 friends and posts, was “used to harass, oppress, persecute and intimidate” the woman, investigator Joseph Murphy wrote in his search warrant application.

A spokesman for the BCA declined to comment on the case, other than to say it was ongoing and that no suspects are in custody and no charges have been filed.

The woman was identified only by her initials in the search warrant documents.

More..

http://www.startribune.com/facebook-post-of-minnesota-woman-s-abortion-records-prompts-criminal-investigation/510432362/

[ProudLib72]

1. Here is what gets me

The use of abortion records for cyberstalking appears to be rare, but is not unprecedented. In 2018 a Texas man was sentenced to five years in federal prison for his actions in an abusive relationship, including creating a Facebook page to represent the fetus that had been aborted by the woman he allegedly raped.

This is some seriously, seriously fucked up shit!!!!

[rusty quoin]

2. That's nightmare territory.

[Billy Ray Joe Bob.]

3. Wow

What a horrible person it would take to do such a thing. The war on woman buy right wing Christian types CONTINUES.

[dalton99a]

4. The asshole should be identified and put in jail

[blue-wave]

5. Only

dirt bag pieces of pig shit would be this cruel. An example of fanatical religious zealotry and real anti-Americanism.

[gratuitous]

6. Did Facebook find an uncrossable line at long last?

Considering the wide range of posts and videos Facebook allows - deceptive, duplicitous and downright dangerous to the targets - I'm surprised they found something amiss with publishing a person's private medical records to open that person up to some of the looniest, most dangerous persons on the internet.