Social media website Facebook has removed an image published by Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of pro-abortion organisation Women on Waves. The offending image contains tips telling women how they can induce an abortion using medicine. Facebook says the material contravenes the website’s conditions of use.

Women on Waves has issued an angry response to Facebook’s decision. Rebecca Gomperts explains “The image shows a sticker we designed with information on how women can abort safely using a drug called Misoprostol. The text is based on information and research by the World Health Organisation.”

The pro-abortion organisation argues that Facebook’s censorship move violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the principle of freedom of information. But a lawyer specialising in media and privacy legislation states that Facebook’s conditions of use reserve the right to remove material it does not support.

In the past, Facebook has been criticised for removing images of gay men kissing and artworks depicting nudity. Women on Waves has now appealed to other Facebook users to place the banned image as a profile photo on their own Facebook page.

(dd)

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