Doctors worry that misinformation online will push abortion seekers toward ineffective, dangerous methods. OLASMEDIA TV NEWSThis is what we have for you today:
“I started seeing things on social media, things like TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, people saying ‘oh, if Roe v. Wade gets destroyed, here are some secret sneaky ways you can drink some tea and have an abortion can commit,” Trebach said.
With Roe v. Wade overturned and some states putting strict limits on abortions, there is widespread confusion about whether the procedures are available and to whom. Doctors and poison control officials say they worry that people seeking abortions will turn to ineffective and dangerous methods shared online, potentially delaying or preventing safe, proven abortion care.
Social media companies told CNN they are taking a series of actions, including reviewing some abortion-related posts, elevating content from verified sources, and labeling or removing certain posts.
This kind of misinformation about abortion is “scary,” says Trebach, an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist in New York City. Some herbs that people have described may not do anything at all. Others can have a range of medical effects or even be fatal.
Trebach said the online posts he saw came from unverified sources and described substances he learned only in toxicology training. In the US, many herbs and supplements are regulated as food, not medicine, meaning there is no safety or efficacy data to support their use. Negative effects of an herb are not always easily treated, he said.
“Ultimately, nothing — no plant, no herb, no tea, no tincture — will be safer or more effective than the current medical standard of abortion, the current medical therapies that we have,” he said. “Nothing is a fair substitute for that.”
Julie Weber, CEO of the American Association of Poison Control Centers, said centers have not seen an increase in calls about people attempting abortion, but they are preparing for it. People can call the association at 1-800-222-1222 or reach experts at: Poisonhelp.org if they have questions about a substance and its possible effects.
“When I hear questions or start seeing questions on social media, I hear people talking about alternative medicines or herbal products or supplements, I worry,” Weber said. “And I’m concerned about this, and we want to get that message out that this isn’t necessarily a safe alternative or even going to be effective.”
Tech companies respond
Andrea Miller, advocacy group chair National Institute of Reproductive Healthhas seen misinformation about abortion online, saying some of it could come from “well-meaning people who are furious and anxious and now want to help, but they may inadvertently share information that isn’t accurate or lead people to nefarious sources without realizing it.” to realize.”
Miller also worries that some posts are designed to misinform and confuse.
“There has been a calculated, pernicious disinformation campaign that has been decades in the making by those opposed to reproductive freedom, and we expect it to be ramped up significantly now,” she said.
A TikTok video — with hashtags such as #womenshealth and #womensrights — featured a range of fruits, herbs, and other “do-it-yourself” methods that were alleged to cause abortions. It got more than 244,000 likes before CNN flagged it and it was removed by the platform last week.
TikTok says it is removing videos about abortion that violate its policy against medical misinformation, though it allows other content on the topics, such as videos discussing access to the procedure, a spokesperson said. The short video platform also redirects searches to certain hashtags such as #herbalabortion and #naturalabortion to point to the Community Guidelines instead of showing results.
Similar posts containing misleading, potentially dangerous claims about inducing an abortion have also been shared on Twitter and Facebook, though most appeared to have less reach and engagement than on TikTok.
A Facebook spokesperson said abortion posts may be reviewed by third-party fact-checking partners, and that the dissemination of content deemed “false,” “modified” or “partially false” by fact-checkers will be reduced. Facebook pages, groups or accounts that repeatedly share content that has been debunked by fact-checkers could also reduce their reach or lose the ability to advertise or monetize, according to the company.
Two posts containing potentially harmful claims about self-induced abortion that CNN had flagged on Facebook were unlabeled as of Wednesday by fact-checkers, who choose what content to review.
Twitter says it is working to “pre-bunk” disinformation by elevating trusted sources, including Trends and Twitter Moments features, a spokesperson said. Twitter’s rules generally don’t prohibit discussion of abortion, birth control, or related topics; Under the platform’s disinformation policy, it takes action against misleading information related to Covid-19, civil integrity, synthetic and manipulated media, and crisis situations, but the policy makes no mention of abortion.
On Wednesday, the platform had not labeled or removed several CNN-flagged posts containing advice about using herbs or large doses of drugs that toxicologists said could be ineffective or harmful.
Miller advises people seeking an abortion or information about the procedure to approach the issue the same way they would any other health issue: “That’s to make sure they look it up from reliable sources, or if they think ‘hey, that’s an intriguing one. post, that’s something intriguing, I might want to check that out,’ make sure you do some additional research if you’re not sure of the source, even if it’s one of your closest friends and you’re not sure where they got them and they are not sure where it comes from.”
Derivation of truthful information
Doctors CNN spoke to said they were concerned that misinformation videos about abortion imply there are no roads to legal abortion — which could distract from safe, available options and create more confusion.
“I feel like we’re lucky these days to have very safe drug abortion options for people, and I’m concerned that if people spread misinformation, people won’t know there are ways they can access safe methods,” said dr. Jody Steinauerdirector of the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health.While there are medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow home abortions, some people may assume they don’t have access to them, Dr. Nisha Verma, a colleague with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a midwife with a specialty in complex family planning.
“Some people may also use unsafe abortion methods if they feel they have no other option or based on information they collect on social media,” Verma said.
Posts and content on topics that trigger emotions are much more likely to go viral on social media. And that can be dangerous if they contain false or misleading claims.
“Disinformation can be harmful because it can lead people to attempt to terminate their pregnancy in an unsafe manner, potentially exposing them to serious physical harm. While people can safely arrange their own abortions, spreading misinformation about unsafe abortion methods is incredibly dangerous,” Verma said.
However, without a federal constitutional right to abortion, access to abortion varies from state to state. The Biden administration is working on multiple federal agencies to respond to the Roe v. Wade reversal.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced a task force to look for ways to protect reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to remove the federal right to abortion. And last week, President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at protecting access to reproductive health services. The order seeks to secure access to drug abortion and emergency contraception, protect patient privacy and launch public education efforts. It also aims to strengthen the security and legal options available to those seeking and providing abortion services.
Losing precious time
Even before the Supreme Court ruling, there was evidence that some people were trying to arrange an abortion on their own using things like herbs, physical trauma and uterine trauma, he said. Jenny Higginsa professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
“We know, of course, that those techniques are ineffective and, in some cases, harmful,” Higgins said.
When it comes to methods circulating on social media, she said, her bigger concern is that they’re taking up precious time.
“A person can research alternatives like herbs, spend time gathering information, buy that substance, take the herb, take it again, take it again, and by then they are later in the pregnancy and maybe even less likely to be able to to access effective methods,” Higgins said.
“There’s a real-time limitation here,” she said. “The later people are in gestation, the more effort has to be made with the abortion.”
Being on the cutting edge of 10 to 12 weeks of pregnancy can make a big difference in whether a person can safely use FDA-approved abortion drugs, she said.
The methods available for self-managed abortion today are very different than they were in the pre-Roe era.
“I want people to understand that now that we have the same pills, the same FDA-approved pills used in standard abortion care can be ordered online,” she said. “There are self-administered techniques that are extremely safe and effective.”
CNN’s Clare Duffy and Jen Christensen contributed to this report.