Screenshot from Alliance Defending Freedom video opposing remedy abortion
Clark Kauffman is deputy editor at Iowa Capital Dispatch, the place this article first appeared.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is main a multi-state effort in demanding that YouTube take away particular abortion-related data from its website.
Bird and fifteen different Republican attorneys basic wrote to YouTube this week and demanded that it take away or revise what Bird calls a “dangerous and misleading” label hooked up to a video that pertains to chemical abortion drugs.
The label, Bird says, is “targeting pro-life messages” and comprises inaccurate data that jeopardizes ladies’s well being.
“We are disappointed to see your platform suppress pro-life and pro-woman messages by distorting them with false information,” the letter states. “Your bias against pro-life and pro-woman messages is un-American; inconsistent with the liberties protected by the First Amendment; and, in this case, illegal. It must stop.”
At situation is a video that the conservative organization the Alliance Defending Freedom has posted to YouTube. The video references the alleged risks of unsupervised, at-home use of abortion drugs.
YouTube, in flip, has hooked up a label to the video that states: “An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus. The procedure is done by a licensed health care professional.”
“The last sentence of the notice is both false and misleading,” the attorneys basic state of their letter. “It suggests that chemical abortions are performed by trained professionals. They are not … We demand that you remove or correct the notice immediately.”
Editor’s notice from Laura Belin: As of March 6, YouTube had changed the “Abortion health information” label to the next textual content:
“An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It can be done two different ways: Medication abortion, which uses medicines to end the pregnancy. It is sometimes called a “medical abortion” or “abortion with pills.” Procedural abortion, a process to take away the being pregnant from the uterus. It is typically known as a “surgical abortion.”
ATTORNEYS GENERAL SAY LABEL IS “BLATANT MISINFORMATION”
The Alliance Defending Freedom is combating a Food & Drug Administration choice to take away a requirement for medical supervision earlier than, throughout, and after taking an abortion capsule. That change, opponents of the capsule argue, endangers ladies’s well being.
Bird and the attorneys basic declare that about 1 in 25 ladies expertise extreme issues from utilizing the drugs and require emergency room medical care.
“Women deserve to know the truth about the dangers of chemical abortion pills,” Bird mentioned in a written assertion. “YouTube must end its blatant misinformation campaign that puts women at risk and quit targeting pro-life messages.”
The attorneys basic are additionally arguing that YouTube is biased “against pro-life and pro-woman messages” and that the social media platform is violating the First Amendment and doubtlessly deceiving shoppers.
The fifteen state attorneys basic who joined Bird in signing the letter to YouTube are from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD DEFENDS YOUTUBE LABEL
Planned Parenthood North Central States says the YouTube-imposed label is a medically and scientifically correct description of abortion.” The organization says the attorneys basic, of their letter to YouTube, are making false claims concerning the security of remedy abortion.
With a medical skilled, sufferers can safely determine when the abortion begins, the place it ought to occur, and who ought to be with them, Planned Parenthood mentioned Wednesday, including that federal information exhibits remedy abortion has a “safety record” of greater than 99 p.c and that severe issues are uncommon.
“This is just another deplorable attempt to stoke fear among the public, who now lives in a constant state of manufactured chaos,” mentioned Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States. “Medication abortion has proven to be an extremely safe and effective way for patients to end a pregnancy for more than nearly two decades. It breaks down existing barriers to care that would otherwise require people to drive hundreds of miles to access an abortion and empowers patients during very personal medical decisions. People need greater access to accurate information about abortion care, especially now.”
