THEMIS - Project Details

The Problem

When Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2024, millions of people woke up with no idea whether abortion was still legal in their state. A fifty-year federal protection just disappeared overnight into a confusing mess of state laws, trigger bans, and conflicting court orders. People were frantically googling "is abortion legal in [my state]" and getting no clear answers.

This keeps happening. Trans kids in Florida don't know if their healthcare will be criminalized. Women in Texas are unsure if a miscarriage could get them prosecuted. Voting rights get dismantled and people don't hear about it until after registration deadlines pass.

The stakes are personal, but the information is impossible to access. By the time news covers a bill, it's often already law. When you can't get straight answers about laws affecting your body or rights, your brain stays in constant threat mode. That's not just stress, it's a mental health crisis.

What We Built

Themis monitors the Indiana state legislature in real-time. You set your and interests (ex. reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ protections, voting access), and when a relevant bill moves, you get a notification with a plain-English summary: "HB-1234 passed the Texas Senate. Bans abortion after six weeks, no rape/incest exceptions. Status: pending House vote."

No legal jargon. No speculation. Just what changed and how it affects you.

How It Works

Flask backend, MongoDB Atlas for fast queries, APScheduler checking every 30 minutes. We originally planned to use LegiScan API but it didn't include bill timestamps, the most critical piece for timely alerts. So we built custom scrapers to pull data directly from state legislature sites and Congress.gov.

Snowflake AI generates personalized summaries and tags bills by topic. When something matches your interests, we send browser push notifications (pywebpush) with SendGrid email backup. The whole system runs automatically, information finds you when it matters.

Why It Matters

Anxiety may come from knowing bad things happened, but it also comes from not knowing what's happening. When your state legislature passes bills in a special session or you don't know if your healthcare will be legal next month, it becomes a lot harder to live a normal, peaceful life. These aren't abstract worries, they are real, undefined dangers.

Themis converts undefined threats into defined information. Knowing "this is exactly how the law applies to me today" gives you back control, and control is what lets you fight back. We can't stop harmful laws from passing, but we can stop you from drowning in uncertainty while it happens. And we can help you take action when they do.

Built for people who shouldn't need a law degree to understand their rights.