Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Facebook removed a Planned Parenthood of Michigan post that shared resources for medication abortions earlier this month, as first reported by the Michigan Advance.
The post, shared on the organization’s Facebook page, explained what a medication abortion is, linked to an article outlining online abortion pill providers, and noted the organization was proud to offer medication abortion to patients, according to Motherboard. A Facebook alert shows the post was flagged as going against community standards, and the post was restricted so that the public would not see it.
Hey @facebook. Medication abortion is safe and legal in Michigan. You don’t need to help anti-abortion politicians restrict access any further. pic.twitter.com/aYcnkM9J2t
— Ashlea Phenicie (@Ashlea_Phenicie) August 19, 2022
Meta spokesperson Rachel Hamrick says the post was mistakenly removed and has been restored.
Planned Parenthood of Michigan didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but a similar post is live on the organization’s page.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June, advocates have raised concerns about how companies like Facebook might handle abortion-related content on their platforms.
The question of abortion pills — which are available online and legal in Michigan — has, at times, been at the center of content moderation questions. Soon after the fall of Roe, social media was flooded with people who offered to mail abortion pills to others. Meta said the posts violated policies around restricted goods, and it would remove such content from Facebook and Instagram. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone later clarified the platform’s rules, saying content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, gift, request or donate drugs is prohibited, but that discussing the availability and affordability of prescription drugs is allowed.