While advocates of abortion rights and civil liberty have expressed concern over how tech companies would ensure online data safety of American women after the United States’ Supreme Court repealed the Roe V Wade judgment, two platforms under Meta, Facebook and Instagram, have started to remove posts related to abortion pills.
Both the social media platforms have reportedly started to eliminate posts concerning abortion pills because the number of posts about such drugs increased after the US SC’s decision to remove constitutional protections for abortions.
Social media sites were inundated with memes and status updates outlining how women may legally order abortion drugs by mail, through abortion telehealth services in those American states, where such healthcare is legal.
Some even offered to mail the prescriptions to women in states where the surgery is currently prohibited.
Such social media posts purportedly meant to aid women in states with already-existing anti-abortion laws that last week suddenly went into effect.
MENTIONS GO UP
According to research by media intelligence company Zignal Labs, mentions of abortion pills in general as well as posts citing particular varieties like mifepristone and misoprostol abruptly increased on June 24 across Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and TV broadcasts.
The researchers then noticed over 250,000 such mentions by June 26.
As reported by The Guardian, Eric Feinberg, a researcher at the Coalition for a Safer Web, claimed that underground networks for abortion pills have started to emerge since the court declared its decision.
Meanwhile, screenshots of such posts reportedly showed that Mifepristone was for sale in private Facebook groups with names like “MTP Kit and Other Pills” and “Cleaning and Abortion Pills”.
According to Associated Press, another similar screenshot of an Instagram post showed that a woman offered to buy or forward such pills through the mail, soon after the judgement was released. The post read: “DM me if you want to order abortion pills, but want them sent to my address instead of yours.” The social media platform soon removed that post.
It was also found that another post stating “If you want abortion pills in US send me your address” which was shared under the “only me” option on Facebook was soon removed by the platform.
The account received an alert notice stating “Your post goes against our Community Standards on drugs. No one else can see your post. We have these standards to encourage safety and compliance with common legal restrictions.”
The account from which the post was shared also received a warning saying: “Your account may be restricted if you violate again.”
The post was created to check what the platform would do when such posts are shared even if the account holder shares it using the “only me” option.
WHAT THEY SAY
A Meta spokesperson cited corporate rules that forbid the selling of certain goods, such as firearms, alcohol, drugs and prescription medications.
While responding to a Tweet Meta spokesperson, Andy Stone wrote: “Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, gift, request or donate pharmaceuticals is not allowed. Content that discusses the affordability and accessibility of prescription medication is allowed. We’ve discovered some instances of incorrect enforcement and are correcting these.”
A majority of US states permit the mailing of abortion pills, whereas 19 states forbid home use of such drugs without a doctor present. According to pro-choice research organisation the Guttmacher Institute, pharmaceutical abortions account for more than half of all abortions performed in the US.
Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, stated last week that mifepristone was approved for use by the FDA in 2000, and should not be outlawed by individual states.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s administration indicated it will seek to prevent states from banning a pill used for medication abortion.
Some Republicans, however, have already made attempts to prevent their constituents from receiving abortion pills through the mail. States like West Virginia and Tennessee forbid doctors from providing the drug via telemedicine consultation. Additionally, with the Roe V Wade ruling being overturned, more than a dozen states want to outright ban abortion.
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