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Facebook has run 18.4 million “abortion reversal” ads since January 2020, according to a report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), promoting an “unproven, unethical” procedure and “Dangerous”.
According to the CCDH study, Google displays ads on more than four-fifths of abortion-related searches in a number of US cities, targeting search terms such as “unwanted pregnancy” and “abortion pill.”
The advertisements promote an unproven theoretical use of high doses of the hormone progesterone to “reverse” the effects of taking mifepristone, the first of a pair of drugs used in medical abortion.
But there is a “lack of medical evidence demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of treatment,” according to a New England Journal of Medicine study, and this can lead to dangerous bleeding.
Despite this, eight US states require that people seeking an abortion receive information indicating that such a reversal is an option. These laws, according to the study’s authors, “essentially encourage women to participate in an unsupervised research experiment.”
Imran Ahmed, Director General of CCDH, said: “It is disgusting that groups seeking to undermine basic sexual and reproductive rights are able to disseminate disinformation to vulnerable women and girls. Worse yet, Facebook and Google are making money from this propaganda.
“In the past, experts have judged advertisements for so-called ‘abortion pill reversals’ to be potentially fatal and unethical. That’s why you don’t see them on TV or in some reputable newspapers or websites.
“Facebook and Google must stop these ads, ban the groups and users involved in their creation, and donate the tainted money they have received to groups that protect basic sexual and reproductive rights.”
On Facebook, the platform’s own analyzes show that up to 1.5 million users in the UK and 3 million in the Republic of Ireland could have been targeted by ads promoting the process, paid for by the groups. anti-abortion SPUC in the UK and the Life Institute in Ireland.
The policies of both companies should ban advertisements. Google has rules that prohibit advertisers from promoting “misleading product information” and “non-government approved products that are marketed in a way that implies they are safe or effective,” while Facebook prohibits advertisements to be targeted at 13 to 17 year olds – despite the fact that a series of announcements by the American group Live Action targeting women under 44 years of age were shown to at least 3,000 children under 18 years old across the United States.
A Facebook spokesperson said: “We have removed numerous advertisements identified in the report – most of which were inactive and dated for several months or years – for violating our policies regarding the offering of adult products and services. “
Google has been contacted for comment.
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