Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Online, researchers
say disinformation about abortion has flooded websites and social
media, and some of that disinformation is influencing policy.
Misleading and medically inaccurate information even found its way
into the Dobbs decision. This week. I spoke to Jenna Sherman, program
manager and researcher at Madan Digital Health Lab Technology nonprofit
that works to strengthen journalism and digital literacy.
Dennis Sherman. Welcome to PBS news Weekend. What was the state of
disinformation about abortion before the Dobbs decision before the
Dobbs decision? What we were seeing online was an overwhelming amount
of missin disinformation stemming from anti abortion movements.
This missing disinformation was primarily really defensive as they
were trying to make their point for why abortion is unethical and
immoral and also dangerous, so a lot of the focus was on drumming
up.
Broader support for their movement while trying to dissuade individual
people from actually getting an abortion. So one of the main sticking
points for them before the dad's decision was centered around.
Um, abortion reversal pills, which have not been proven to be safe
or effective in clinical trials, and, in fact were stopped and clinical
trials because of a dangerous hemorrhaging. And how has it changed
since the Dobbs decision, So just in the past couple of weeks, we've
seen the antiabortion mis and disinformation grow much more vitriolic.
It's become a lot a lot more targeted and angry people who might
still be considering getting an abortion or might still have access
to one. So some of the angles that are primarily being used now are
targeting chemical abortion as they're calling it, which is actually
another phrase for medication Abortion, trying to convince people
that it is unsafe.
Which is not true, and another main point that they're sticking on
is really pushing against what they're calling abortion tourism,
which is a really flippant and pejorative way to describe somebody
who has no other choice but to give up a lot of money, time and resources
to access care that they need outside of state.
Is there also disinformation as far as you can tell, spread by those
who advocate for federally protected abortion rights. Since the decision,
pro Choice activists and, um people who believe in in the right to
federally protected abortion have turned to social media to try and
spread.
Tips for people on how to access abortion safely when in reality,
it's not actually always safe methods that they're promoting. So
one of the big narrative circulating right now from the pro choice
individuals is that there are herbal remedies and natural foods that
can induce an abortion. This is also not
Scientifically proven or safe and can lead to really severe health
consequences, depending on the herb or food, like septic shock or
liver damage. We mentioned this at the top, but what disinformation
ended up inside?
Dobbs decision. So there are claims in the Dobbs decision that abortion
is a barbaric practice that abortion is bad for maternal health that
abortion is dangerous that fetuses can feel pain before the third
trimester and that abortion promotes discrimination. All of these
are untrue, and are the same narratives being spouted by anti abortion,
individuals and larger movements online. Some of those are certainly
False but some of those could be considered subjective, right?
By people who are against federally protected abortion rights. So
those that I just listed are all objectively false. We know that
maternal health is protected and many ways by access to abortion,
for instance, and this is backed by a number of medical and public
health organizations.
Including the CDC. There are, of course, opinions in the Dobbs decision
throughout that are subjective and but really depend on the logic
that you're taking and your value system underlying and finally,
as best you can tell our social media companies are technology companies
doing enough
To combat this information. The short answer is absolutely not. We've
seen how they were able to mobilize for covid. And while health misinformation
policies among platforms are still relatively new, mostly the past
five or six years
We have not seen them take action, um sufficiently and regards to
other health topics. And this is a really urgent need right now,
because so many more people are turning to the Internet to find information
about abortion, and so many people are coming across it unwillingly
because it is being so highly discussed online right now.
Janice Sherman. Thank you very much.