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/ Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Instagram and Facebook remove posts offering abortion pills
Following the Supreme court decision to overrule Roe v. Wade
W
ASHINGTON — Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure. Such social media posts ostensibly aimed to help women living in states where preexisting laws banning abortion suddenly snapped into effect on Friday. That’s when the high court overruled Roe v. Wade, its 1973 decision that declared access to abortion a constitutional right. Memes and status updates explaining how women could legally obtain abortion pills in the mail exploded across social platforms. Some even offered to mail the prescriptions to women living in states that now ban the procedure. Almost immediately, Facebook and Instagram began removing some of these posts, just as millions across the U.S. were searching for clarity around abortion access. General mentions of abortion pills, as well as posts mentioning specific versions such as mifepristone and misoprostol, suddenly spiked Friday morning across Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and TV broadcasts, according to an analysis by the media intelligence firm Zignal Labs. By Sunday, Zignal had counted more than 250,000 such mentions. The AP obtained a screenshot on Friday of one Instagram post from a woman who offered to purchase or forward abortion pills through the mail, minutes after the court ruled to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion. “DM me if you want to order abortion pills, but want them sent to my address instead of yours,” the post on Instagram read. Instagram took it down within moments. Vice Media first reported on Monday that Meta, the parent of both Facebook and Instagram, was taking down posts about abortion pills. On Monday, an AP reporter tested how the company would respond to a similar post on Facebook, writing: “If you send me your address, I will mail you abortion pills.” The post was removed within one minute.
>AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File
Amanda Seitz – The Associated Press
The Facebook account was immediately put on a in a tweet Monday that the company will not “warning” status for the post, which Facebook said allow individuals to gift or sell pharmaceuticals violated its standards on “guns, animals and other on its platform, but will allow content that regulated goods.” shares information on how to access pills. Stone Yet, when the AP reporter made the same acknowledged some problems with enforcing exact post but swapped out that policy across its platforms, the words “abortion pills” for which include Facebook and “a gun,” the post remained Instagram. untouched. A post with the “We’ve discovered some same exact offer to mail instances of incorrect “weed” was also left up and not enforcement and are correcting considered a violation. these,” Stone said in the tweet. Some states prohibit Marijuana is illegal under Attorney General Merrick providers from federal law and it is illegal to Garland said Friday that states prescribing abortion send it through the mail. should not ban mifepristone, pills through Abortion pills, however, can the medication used to induce telemedicine. legally be obtained through the an abortion. mail after an online consultation “States may not ban from prescribers who have mifepristone based on undergone certification and disagreement with the FDA’s training. expert judgment about its safety and efficacy,” In an email, a Meta spokesperson pointed Garland said in a Friday statement. to company policies that prohibit the sale of But some Republicans have already tried to certain items, including guns, alcohol, drugs and stop their residents from obtaining abortion pills pharmaceuticals. The company did not explain the through the mail, with some states like West apparent discrepancies in its enforcement of that Virginia and Tennessee prohibiting providers from policy. prescribing the medication through telemedicine Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed consultation.
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