Instagram and Facebook have recently taken steps to blur, block, or remove posts from abortion pill providers. Abortion providers say that censorship on the platforms has intensified over the past two weeks. Instagram has also suspended several accounts linked to these providers, making them unsearchable and removing them from recommendations.
Aid Access, one of the biggest abortion pill providers in the U.S., said its posts started getting taken down from Facebook and blurred on Instagram beginning in November. The organization has been unable to access its Facebook account since November, and its Instagram account was suspended last week, though it was recently reinstated.
Just this past week, the accounts of other abortion pill providers, Women Help Women and Just The Pill, were also suspended. Meta — which owns both of the social media platforms — said that the suspensions occurred because the accounts allegedly violated the company’s rules on restricted goods. Although abortion pills are not currently classified as a federally restricted good, there are efforts to change that.
