Following the landmark ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States of America which overturned the Roe v. Wade abortion right, technology platforms like Instagram and Facebook have started removing posts offering abortion pills to women in states where they cannot access them.
On Facebook and Instagram for instance, users shared status updates and memes explaining how women could obtain abortion pills.
Also, others offered to send the prescriptions to women via social media chats and mails.
Posts mentioning abortion pills like mifepristone and misoprostol, suddenly spiked across Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and TV broadcasts on Friday.
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This is following the ruling by the Supreme Court that restricted rights for a woman to freely abort a pregnancy after 15 weeks.
The ruling declared that the right to abortion by women is no longer a constitutional right.
The response:
Users started noticing that Facebook and Instagram took down their posts about abortion pills.
An Instagram user had posted a content that reads thus:
“DM me if you want to order abortion pills, but want them sent to my address instead of yours.”
Within seconds, Instagram took down the post!
Also, a reporter with APnews tested how Facebook would respond by posting a content that reads thus:
“If you send me your address, I will mail you abortion pills.”
Like Instagram, Facebook took down the post in some seconds.
Not only did Facebook take down the post but it also warned the user to desist from posting contents about abortion pills.
Facebook’s warning said the post violated its standards on “guns, animals and other regulated goods.”
Implication for pharmaceutical companies:
The Roe v. Wade ruling will definitely affect pharmaceutical companies as it will limit sales and reduce income for them.
They will not also be able to advertise some drugs on social media in the US.
For instance, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed in a tweet Monday that the company will not allow individuals to gift or sell pharmaceuticals on its platform.
Nevertheless, Stone said Meta platforms will allow content that shares information on how to access pills.
What you should know about the ruling:
Meanwhile, the Roe v. Wade ruling by the apex court of the United States of America did not immediately ban abortion in the United states.
Instead, it makes access to abortion a state decision.
What this means is that the state decides if a woman can abort or not.
Therefore, a state in America can choose to either ban abortion out rightly or protect the right to abortion.
It can also choose to define at what stage a woman may have the right or not to abort or not to abort a pregnancy.
Consequently, many states such as Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Arizona, Michigan, Indiana, South Carolina, Nebraska, Iowa and West Virginia have banned abortion.
Predictions hold that more states will soon ban abortions too, bringing the number to, at least, 26.
Sates Supporting abortion:
Despite the expectations for many states to declare abortion illegal, some U.S states have vowed to support abortion.
At least sixteen states and Washington, D.C., have laws protecting abortion rights.
This is according to the Guttmacher Institute.
The institute said states supporting abortion include:
California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Colorado, Washington, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Oregon.
Others are Nevada, Connecticut, Maine, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Delaware and Vermont.
Meanwhile, keep in mind that the policies concerning abortion in these states vary.
For instance, while Colorado allows abortion throughout a patient’s pregnancy, Massachusetts only bans abortion after 24 weeks.
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