The Emerging Legal Landscape of AI in Women’s Healthcare


Author: Vaishnavi.M, The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University


To the Point


Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare is revolutionizing the area, such as how women’s health is understood, diagnosed, and managed. From personalized menstrual health tracking to fertility monitoring and early detection of various diseases like breast cancer or endometriosis, FemTech and AI-based tools are offering unprecedented capabilities in these fields. These innovations are significantly improving health outcomes for the people, providing data-driven insights, and making healthcare more accessible and proactive for everyone. However, this technological advancement poses serious challenges related to privacy, consent, algorithmic bias, and the lack of a robust legal framework to protect women from misuse or discrimination. In India, due to the absence of a gender-sensitive digital health law raises urgent concerns regarding data protection, informed consent, and reproductive autonomy. As these tools become more integrated into the healthcare system, it becomes increasingly imperative to establish clear legal standards that protect women’s rights without stifling innovation.


Abstract


The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in women’s healthcare, commonly referred to as FemTech, marks a transformative shift in the management of reproductive health, disease prevention, and personalized care among females. From ovulation tracking to AI-powered diagnostics for conditions like PCOS and endometriosis, these tools hold enormous potential to address the historic neglect of women’s health in clinical research and practices during this times. They offer enhanced accessibility, affordability, and autonomy in healthcare, enabling women to take charge of their bodies and take health decisions. Yet, the rapid deployment of AI in this sensitive domain also highlights legal blind spots, particularly in the Indian context regarding the safety concerns. This article explores the emerging legal concerns surrounding AI in women’s healthcare, focusing on privacy, informed consent, algorithmic bias, and reproductive rights. It critiques existing legal frameworks such as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and draws parallels from international jurisprudence. By emphasizing feminist jurisprudence and comparative legal models, the piece aims to offer a forward-looking perspective on how India can legally prepare to embrace FemTech while safeguarding women’s health rights and digital dignity.

Use of Legal Jargon

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in women’s healthcare introduces complex challenges for existing legal doctrines, particularly in the domains of data protection, medical ethics, and constitutional rights. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, while establishing baseline obligations for data processors, does not sufficiently address the gender-specific nuances of reproductive health data. Legal concepts such as “informed consent,” “reproductive autonomy,” and “right to privacy” are increasingly strained in an AI-driven healthcare environment, where algorithmic decision-making may lack transparency or accountability. The role of entities as “data fiduciaries” becomes critical, as they bear the legal and ethical responsibility to act in the best interest of the “data principal,” especially when handling intimate and sensitive health information. Additionally, principles such as the “non-discrimination principle,” the “proportionality doctrine,” and “digital due process” are essential to ensure that AI systems do not reinforce historical biases or infringe upon fundamental rights. As AI tools become further embedded into FemTech applications, there is an urgent need to develop statutory safeguards, guided by feminist jurisprudence and intersectional equity, to uphold bodily autonomy and digital dignity in the healthcare context.

The Proof

Current digital data protection regimes in India, such as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, provide a general legal structure for the processing of personal data but lack specific safeguards for gender-sensitive and reproductive health information. While the Act recognizes the obligations of “data fiduciaries” and the rights of “data principals,” it does not adequately address the nuances of reproductive autonomy or the heightened sensitivity of women’s health data.
Empirical and institutional evidence further reinforces these legal shortcomings. A 2022 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health revealed that many AI-powered healthcare applications suffer from a lack of diversity in their datasets, leading to diagnostic inaccuracies that disproportionately affect marginalized women. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also cautioned that AI tools in healthcare must be governed by ethical frameworks to avoid exacerbating existing gender disparities. Additionally, a market report by Frost & Sullivan estimates that the global FemTech market will expand to $60 billion by 2027, underscoring the urgency of aligning legal safeguards with rapid technological growth.
Despite these developments, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 remains largely gender-neutral and silent on reproductive data protections, leaving significant gaps in informed consent, algorithmic accountability, and non-discrimination. This mismatch between technological capability and legal preparedness creates a regulatory grey zone that threatens the privacy, safety, and dignity of women interacting with AI-driven healthcare platforms. Without proactive and gender-sensitive legal reform, FemTech may inadvertently contribute to digital exclusion and systemic inequity.

Case Laws

1. Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017)
– This landmark judgment by the Supreme Court of India recognized the right to privacy as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. It laid the constitutional foundation for safeguarding digital health data.
2. Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration (2009)
– The Court emphasized that reproductive autonomy forms a part of personal liberty under Article 21, affirming a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her reproductive health, including the right to carry or terminate a pregnancy.
3. ABC v. State (NCT of Delhi) (2015)
– The case centered around a single mother’s right to privacy and confidentiality in matters of birth registration. It reinforced the need to protect reproductive choices and identities from unwarranted intrusion.
4. Roe v. Wade (1973, U.S.)
– Though later overturned, this U.S. Supreme Court decision historically acknowledged the constitutional right to privacy in the context of abortion, highlighting the need for legal protection of reproductive decision-making.
5.  X v. Health Secretary (UK, 2021)
– This UK case raised critical ethical and legal concerns about the use of personal health data by AI systems in the public health sector, advocating for stronger data governance, consent protocols, and algorithmic accountability.

Conclusion

FemTech and AI-powered healthcare solutions have opened transformative pathways for improving women’s health outcomes. However, these advances come with significant risks if not accompanied by adequate legal protections. The absence of a strong, inclusive, and gender-sensitive framework in India leaves room for potential misuse, discrimination, and erosion of reproductive autonomy. To safeguard women’s health rights, India must move swiftly to revise its digital health laws, introducing explicit protections for reproductive data, mandating algorithmic transparency, and enforcing robust standards for informed consent. Legal reform must be guided not just by technological advancement but also by feminist jurisprudence that centers on bodily autonomy, equality, and dignity. In tandem with this, raising technical literacy and public awareness will be key to empowering women to assert their digital rights and navigate AI healthcare solutions safely and confidently.


FAQS


1.What is FemTech?
FemTech refers to digital technology solutions focused on women’s health, including apps for menstrual tracking, fertility, pregnancy, and disease diagnostics.


2.  Is women’s health data more sensitive legally?
Yes. It involves reproductive and sexual health details, triggering higher ethical and legal safeguards under data protection laws.


3.  Does India have a law specifically for women’s health data?
No. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 covers general data but lacks gender-specific safeguards.


4.  Can AI tools show bias in healthcare?
Yes. If AI is trained on non-diverse datasets, it can lead to biased diagnostics or treatment plans, especially for women from marginalized communities.


5.  What kind of legal reforms are needed?
India needs laws that ensure reproductive data privacy, promote algorithmic transparency, and mandate explicit, informed consent mechanisms.


6.  Are there global standards India can learn from?
Yes. The WHO’s ethics guidelines on AI and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) offer models for accountability and gender inclusivity.

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