Facebook has apologized to a reproductive rights activist for deleting her post containing instructions for a Do-It-Yourself form of abortion that turned out to be sanctioned by the World Health Organization.

 

Activist Rebecca Gomperts said she was also blocked from posting on her Facebook account for two days before she got the apology, which she said stemmed from protest reposts and media attention.

'Not in violation of Rights and Responsibilities'

 

"I wanted to take a moment to reach out to you in regards to the warning that you received from Facebook on Thursday. The photo that was removed from your profile is not in violation of our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, and appears to have been removed in error. We do apologize for the removal of this content and the subsequent warning that you received," Gomperts quoted Facebook as saying in its apology, in a post on her Facebook account.

 

She thanked the "protest repost and the inquiry of journalists" that she believed prompted Facebook to write the apology.

 

Gomperts said Facebook told her a team of reviewers enforces its policies and regulations, looking at "hundreds of thousands" of reports every week.

 

"(A)s you might expect, occasionally, we make a mistake and remove a piece of content we shouldn’t have. When this happens, we work quickly to address it by apologizing to the people affected and making any necessary changes to our systems and processes," she quoted Facebook as saying in its apology.

 

She said it also assured her this matter is being looked at carefully by its review team at this time.

 

It also told her there should be "no issue" if she re-posts the photo in question.

 

Facebook also said it removed a warning from her account, so that it does not affect her profile in the future. 

 

A separate article on tech site Mashable said Gomperts works at Women on Web, an abortion rights group based in the Netherlands.

 

It said she said Facebook deleted her original post — along with a screenshot she posted of the warning they sent to her after the original post was deleted.

 

“We are very happy to report that Facebook reversed its censorship of Dr. Gomperts post on how to use misoprostol for safe abortion. Thank you to everyone who contacted Facebook and posted the information on your own sites in solidarity!” Mashable quoted Gomperts' group as saying.

 

It added Gomperts has since re-posted the “how to” abortion piece on her Facebook page.

Sanctioned by the World Health Organization
 

"The World Health Organization sanctions the instructions, which prescribe misoprostol (an ulcer drug) and mifepristone to terminate a first-term pregnancy," the Mashable article said.

 

Mashable noted this is not the first time a technology company has run afoul of pro-choice campaigners.

 

It noted that in December, Apple’s Siri was accused of being anti-abortion after it emerged that the voice recognition assistant wouldn’t give users a list of abortion clinics when asked. — TJD, GMA News