How Digital Violence Is Blocking Women’s Health in the Digital Age

Human Rights Day closes out the 16 Days of Activism, and this year’s theme—“UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls”—lands right in the middle of how women get health care today. More and more appointments, test results, birth control consults, and mental health check-ins happen through screens, apps, and portals—and digital violence is quietly pushing women away from those tools.​

This isn’t just about “being safer online.” It’s about whether women and girls feel safe enough to reach for the care they need.​

1. Digital violence is changing how women seek care

When a woman has been stalked, doxxed, or threatened online, opening a health portal or a telehealth app can feel risky, even if she trusts her provider. Fear that messages, photos, or location data could be leaked or weaponized can make her cancel appointments, avoid online booking systems, or stick to walk-in clinics instead of consistent care.​

For survivors of digital violence, every notification can feel like a potential new attack. That kind of fear doesn’t just live in the mind; it can lead to missed screenings, delayed follow-ups, and untreated conditions because the digital doorway to care doesn’t feel safe.​

2. Sexual and reproductive health care is especially vulnerable

Sexual and reproductive health information is already highly sensitive. Add digital violence, and many women start to worry that their search history, period tracking, telehealth abortion consults, or STI testing reminders could be exposed or used against them.​

Partners or family members who monitor devices, demand passwords, or “check up” on messages can make it nearly impossible for women and girls to privately access contraception, abortion care, or information about consent and healthy relationships. That’s not a small inconvenience; it can change whether someone can plan a pregnancy, leave an abusive situation, or manage an infection in time.​

3. The gender digital divide is also a health divide

In many places, women have less access to phones, data, and private internet—even as health systems move more services online. When a woman relies on a shared phone, a public computer, or a device controlled by a partner, she’s more exposed to digital abuse and has fewer safe ways to use digital health tools.​

That means reminders, lab results, mental health chats, and contraceptive counseling may all run through channels where someone else can see or intercept them. The result is a double hit: greater risk of digital harassment and fewer safe, private options for getting care or accurate health information.​

4. Privacy and data protection are now core health issues

Digital health tools collect all kinds of information: symptoms, sexual history, mental health notes, location, even details about pregnancy or abortion. When women hear stories about data breaches, tracking, or apps sharing sensitive details without clear consent, they may decide it’s safer not to use those tools at all.​

That loss of trust can be its own kind of harm. Some women stop using mental health apps, delete period trackers, or avoid signing up for online portals, even when those tools could help them manage chronic conditions or stay on top of screenings. On Human Rights Day, it’s worth saying plainly: protecting women’s health data, and making sure it can’t be used to target or shame them, is part of the right to health in a digital world.​

5. Digital trauma can follow women into the clinic

For women who have faced image-based abuse, online sexual harassment, or doxxing, opening a health app or logging into a telehealth visit can bring up memories of earlier violations. That “technology-related trauma” can make it hard to answer sensitive questions honestly, turn on a camera, or trust a message system—even with a kind provider on the other side.​

This can be especially intense for people seeking abortion care, contraception, STI treatment, or mental health support after sexual violence. If a digital tool feels even a little unsafe or confusing, many survivors will simply drop out of care, or postpone it until things are more serious—adding to both physical and emotional strain.​

6. Health workers need to see digital safety as part of care

Doctors, nurses, midwives, school health staff, and counselors are on the front lines of women’s health in this digital moment. When a woman seems hesitant about telehealth, avoids using the portal, or misses online follow-ups, it might not be “non-compliance”—it might be fear of digital surveillance, harassment, or leaks.​

Simple questions like “Do you feel safe using your phone for health messages?” or “Is there anyone else who can see your health app or texts?” can open the door to better support. Providers can help women think through safer options—like using code words, turning off certain notifications, or scheduling in-person visits—so digital tools support health instead of becoming another source of harm.​

7. The right to health includes safe digital spaces

Human Rights Day is about the promise that everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. In 2025, that promise has to include the right to use digital health tools—telehealth, apps, portals, messaging—without fear of violence, harassment, or misuse of deeply personal information.​

Ending digital violence against women and girls isn’t only about stopping abuse on social media. It’s also about making sure women can check their lab results, message a doctor, manage a chronic condition, or access sexual and reproductive health care without wondering who might be watching or waiting to hurt them. When digital spaces are safer, women’s access to care expands, their mental and physical health improve, and the right to health becomes a little more real—on every screen, in every clinic, for every woman and girl.