As reproductive rights face growing attacks globally, access to accurate abortion information, especially online, has never been more critical. Social media platforms connect people to vital resources, especially in places where abortion is hard to access.
Yet in recent years, abortion-related content has been increasingly removed or hidden even when it doesn’t violate any laws. Platforms often cite vague “community guidelines” to take down posts, leaving users without clear explanations and cutting off access to essential healthcare information.
Through the Stop Censoring Abortion campaign, we collected stories from individuals, healthcare clinics, advocacy groups, and more. Together, they reveal nearly 100 examples of posts and resources taken down—ranging from guidance on medication abortion regimens, to links of resources supporting individuals in states with abortion bans.
This isn’t just a U.S. problem. It’s part of a broader global trend that threatens freedom of information and disproportionately harms communities already facing barriers to reproductive care.
On this page, you can explore the findings and see what this censorship looks like—and how you can fight it.
The Stop Censoring Abortion project began with the goal of collecting examples, but it’s become a multi-part blog series examining trends we found, including stories of individuals and organizations who needed to rely on internal connections at Meta to get wrongfully censored posts restored; examples of account suspensions without sufficient warnings; an exploration of Meta policies and how they are wrongly applied; and practical tips for users to avoid being censored. You can find links to these blogs as we release them below and on the side menu of this page.
Our Findings
- OVERVIEW: Our Stop Censoring Abortion Campaign Uncovers a Social Media Censorship Crisis
- UNEQUAL ENFORCEMENT: When Knowing Someone at Meta Is the Only Way to Break Out of “Content Jail” (coming soon!)
Reporting and Research
- Abortion advocates raise alarm about social platforms removing posts in apparent overreach (AP News)
- Instagram and Facebook Blocked and Hid Abortion Pill Providers’ Posts (New York Times)
- Abortion Groups Say Tech Companies Suppress Posts and Accounts (New York Times)
- TikTok Keeps Removing Abortion Pill Content (WIRED)
- Obstacles to Autonomy: Post-Roe Removal of Abortion Information Online (Amnesty International
- They're Trying to Ban Posting About Abortion Online (Taylor Lorenz, Youtube)
- Abortion-rights groups denounce censorship on Meta-owned apps in Latin America and beyond (AP News)
- Groups helping Americans find abortion pills report Instagram ‘shadow-banning’ (The Guardian)
- Missing posts, restricted accounts: Social media has always been hostile to abortion content (The 19thNews)
- Why Do Social Media Platforms Keep Removing Posts About Safe and Legal Abortion Pills? (Mother Jones)
- ‘A General State of Confusion’: How Abortion Misinformation Misleads Patients (ReWire News Group)
Privacy and Security Guides and Information
- Surveillance Self-Defense Guide for Protecting Privacy and Security as an Abortion Access Activist, Worker, or Patient (EFF)
- Digital Security Information from Digital Defense Fund
- Location Tracking Tools Endanger Abortion Access. Lawmakers Must Act Now. (EFF)