May 15, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Some 24 hours after it deleted the Facebook page of Women on Web, which sells illegal abortion pills online, Facebook backpedaled, apologized, and reinstated the page.
The social media giant shut down Women on Web May 12, citing its policy against the “promotion or encouragement of drug use,” the Guardian reported.
The Amsterdam-based Women on Web mails abortion pills to women who are reportedly 10 or fewer weeks pregnant and in countries where abortion is illegal. It also will connect them with local doctors who will sell them the drug.
The abortion pill is a two-drug combination, in which one acts to starve the baby in utero and the other to expel the corpse from the womb.
Women on Web is the sister organization of Women on Waves, founded by Dutch abortionist Rebecca Gomperts. It runs an abortion ship in international waters so it can sell abortion pills with impunity to women from countries where abortion is outlawed.
Women on Waves raised an outcry on behalf of Women on Web, stating on its Facebook page: “We expect Facebook will undue [sic] this action soon enough, as access to information is a human right.”
Indeed, Facebook, which has about 2 billion users worldwide, reinstated the Women on Web page just hours later, reported the Telegraph.
It also apologized and explained the page was shut down “in error.”
“Facebook is a place for people and organizations to campaign for the things that matter to them,” stated Facebook.
“Women on Web is an example of that. In this instance the account was disabled in error but has now been restored. We apologize for this and for any inconvenience caused.”
Women on Web lauded the decision.
“After over 24h, we are back in Facebook! We appreciate so much all the support from many persons and organizations who have spoken up for freedom of expression and the human rights of women.”
But Campaign Life youth coordinator Marie-Claire Bissonnette says it’s “disconcerting” that Facebook reversed its decision, because shutting down Women on Web’s page “might have potentially saved lives.”
Formerly known as RU-486, the abortion pill has dangerous side effects for women, as well as being lethal for the unborn child.
Campaign Life has launched a social media education campaign, #RU486RUCrazy, a series of short videos in which Bissonnette documents the risks of the abortion pill.
RU-486 has been directly linked to more than a dozen of maternal deaths in the United States as well as to a number of deaths of women internationally.
But while the U.S. has so far banned the abortion pill, Health Canada approved the drug in July 2015, and it has been available since January.
The UK Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) also sounded the alarm on the drug, particularly when Women on Waves announced in June 2016 it was sending drones carrying the abortion pill into Northern Ireland.
SPUC derided the plan as an “outrageous publicity stunt” that could have deadly consequences for women.
“Abortion advocates who promote the use of illegal abortion drugs are putting women's lives in danger, Liam Gibson, SPUC's development officer in Northern Ireland, said then.
“These drugs are known to have killed dozens of women worldwide, including Manon Jones (18) from Bristol and Jessie-Maye Barlow (19) from Staines in England,” he said.
“This campaign to convince the public that these highly dangerous drugs are actually safe shows a shocking disregard for the lives of the women who may be incited to take them.”
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