Abortions are legal in much of Africa. But few women may be aware, and providers don’t advertise it

By Maria Cheng And Misper Apawu, The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 2, 2024

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — When Efua, a 25-year-old fashion designer and single mother in Ghana, became pregnant last year, she sought an abortion at a health clinic but worried the procedure might be illegal. Health workers assured her abortions were lawful under certain conditions in the West African country, but Efua said she was still nervous.

“I had lots of questions, just to be sure I would be safe,” Efua told the Associated Press, on condition that only her middle name be used, for fear of reprisals from the growing anti-abortion movement in her country.

Continued: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/africa/abortions-are-legal-in-much-of-africa-but-few-women-may-be-aware-and-providers/article_24b7ad8d-aa20-5134-aa5f-a381fc7ea56c.html

Meta and Google accused of restricting reproductive health information

Report claims posts on abortion and contraception have been deleted while misinformation on the feeds of social media users in Africa, Latin America and Asia has not been tackled

Weronika Strzyżyńska
Wed 27 Mar 2024

Meta and Google are accused in a new report of obstructing information on abortion and reproductive healthcare across Africa, Latin America and Asia.

MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International) and the Center for Countering Digital Hate claim the platforms are restricting local abortion providers from advertising, but failing to tackle misinformation that undermines public access to reproductive healthcare.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/27/meta-and-google-accused-of-restricting-reproductive-health-information

27.03.2024

News

Center for Countering Digital Hate

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MSI Reproductive Choices

How Meta Created a Wild West for Abortion Misinformation

New cases from Meta’s Oversight Board highlight Meta’s haphazard approach to reproductive health.

BY JENNIFER NEDA JOHN
JULY 31, 2023

In March, a member of an anti-abortion Facebook group shared a post describing what it claimed was “pro-abortion logic”: “We don’t want you to be poor, starved or unwanted. So we’ll just kill you instead.”

That same month, another Facebook user shared a link to a news article covering a South Carolina bill that would have criminalized abortion as homicide, thus making it eligible for the death penalty. In the caption, the user criticized lawmakers’ logic that “it’s wrong to kill so we are going to kill you.” On Instagram, another post struck the same tone, criticizing the idea of being “so pro-life” that “we’ll kill you dead if you get an abortion.”

Continued: https://slate.com/technology/2023/07/abortion-misinformation-meta-oversight-board.html

USA – Google ‘Abortion Clinics Near Me’ and You May End Up on an Anti-Abortion Website

Report alleges that Google is profiting from ads for anti-abortion clinics

06/15/23
Khaya Himmelman and Lily Meier

Google, the dominant player in online search, has run deceptive ads directing abortion seekers to sites run by “crisis pregnancy centers” that try to dissuade women from getting abortions, according to a study by the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

The online giant made only $10.2 million from the ads, according to the center, whereas the parent company, Alphabet, had a net 2022 profit of nearly $60 billion. The center argues though that this isn't just about the financials as “Google is betraying the trust of hundreds of thousands of Americans seeking reproductive and healthcare services.”

Continued: https://themessenger.com/money/google-abortion-clinics-near-me-and-you-may-end-up-on-an-anti-choice-website

15.06.2023

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abortion pill reversal

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American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Callum Hood

Center for Countering Digital Hate

crisis pregnancy centers

Google and abortion

Google Maps and abortion

Google searches for abortion

Imran Ahmed

United States

USA – Google earned $10m from ads misdirecting abortion seekers to ‘pregnancy crisis centers’

Study finds the search giant has profited since Roe was overturned from anti-abortion groups buying misleading search terms

Kari Paul
Thu 15 Jun 2023

Google has made millions of dollars in the last two years from advertisements misdirecting users who were seeking abortion services to “pregnancy crisis centers” that do not actually provide care, according to a new study.

The tech giant has taken in an estimated $10m in two years from anti-choice organizations that pay to advertise such centers alongside legitimate results on the Google search page, according to a new report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a non-profit group that conducts misinformation research. Its study, published on Thursday, estimates that the search results have reached and potentially misled hundreds of thousands of users.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/15/google-misleading-abortion-ads-pregnancy-crisis-centers

What African feminist movements are up against in 2023

Emboldened by the overturning of Roe v Wade, Western conservative movements are dialling up their Africa campaigns.

Joy Asasira
31.01.2023

Last year’s most notable decision affecting gender justice – the overturning of federal protection of the right to abortion in the US – happened more than 6,000 miles from Africa, but its impact was felt here too.

The US Supreme Court’s decision will affect legal, policy and public service spheres on the African continent. It will also intensify the ideological war to control women’s bodies and push LGBTIQ citizens further to the margins.

Continued: https://progressive.international/wire/2023-01-31-what-african-feminist-movements-are-up-against-in-2023/en

31.01.2023

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African femininst movements

Center for Countering Digital Hate

Geneva Consensus Declaration

USA – The anti-choice movement won’t stop at criminalizing abortion

Anti-abortion advocates already seek to erode other rights and will continue casting a wider net to criminalize abortion support networks

by Tina Vásquez
July 22nd, 2022

In the weeks since the Supreme Court issued its decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that overturned Roe v. Wade and struck down our Constitutional right to abortion, the country has turned into an even more hostile place for marginalized people.

In states like Arizona and Texas, which have some of the largest undocumented populations in the nation, providers have stopped offering abortion care or packed up to move to a neighboring state, leaving undocumented people who cannot risk Border Patrol checkpoints with virtually no options. The risk of criminalization is so great that abortion funds have paused operations in states with trigger bans and laws that target people who provide abortion support. In effect, the Supreme Court ruling that the right to abortion is not “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history or tradition” has strapped a ticking time bomb onto other fundamental human rights. How long before right-wing lawmakers come for contraception? How long before they come for interracial marriage and gay marriage? How will this ruling be used as justification to further whittle away at trans rights?

Continued: https://prismreports.org/2022/07/22/anti-choice-movement-wont-stop-at-abortion/

22.07.2022

Center for Countering Digital Hate

First Amendment

Google searches for abortion

USA – Google misdirects one in 10 searches for abortion to ‘pregnancy crisis centers’

In US ‘trigger states’ where the procedure may soon be illegal, searchers may be sent to centers that do not actually provide care

Kari Paul
Thu 9 Jun 2022

One in 10 Google searches for abortion services in US “trigger states”, where the procedure is likely to become illegal if the US supreme court overturns Roe v Wade, are being misdirected to clinics known as “pregnancy crisis centers” that do not actually provide care, according to a new study.

After a leak revealed the US supreme court is on the verge of overturning the landmark abortion rights law Roe v Wade, attention has turned to “trigger law” states that would ban abortion immediately if the decades-old decision is undone.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/09/google-searches-abortion-clinics-pregnancy-crisis-centers

Why Do Social Media Platforms Keep Removing Posts About Safe and Legal Abortion Pills?

Access to solid information about how to get ahold of abortion pills is more crucial now than ever.

May 13, 2022
Madison Pauley, Mother Jones

Not all the 39 patients who asked Christie Pitney for abortion pills last week were pregnant. Some had IUDs or were on birth control, and they wanted to have the pills—an extremely safe, FDA-approved regimen that is now the most common way of terminating a pregnancy in the United States—on hand, just in case. “They’re very, very worried and scared about what the future holds,” says Pitney, an advanced practice midwife who prescribes abortion pills virtually to patients.

The patients had found Pitney through Aid Access, an organization that connects people who want medication abortions with telehealth providers who can give them online consultations and order the pills for them.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/05/twitter-instagram-facebook-google-abortion-pills-roe-ban/

Facebook Ireland to investigate ads on ‘abortion pill reversal’

Three such adverts appeared on the platform here reaching ‘up to’ three million people

Wed, Oct 6, 2021
Mark Hilliard

Facebook Ireland has said it will investigate claims of ads posted to promote controversial abortion pill “reversal” procedures.

The social media company’s ad library recently showed records of 92 such ads in the US which, according to its own analytics, were viewed by users up to 18.4 million times since January, 2020.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/facebook-ireland-to-investigate-ads-on-abortion-pill-reversal-1.4692164

06.10.2021