Facebook recently pulled the profile picture of Dr. Rebecca Gomperts. Dr. Gomperts, along with the foundation she founded, Women on Waves, created and released a one page flyer (posted as her profile picture) instructing women on how to have a “safe abortion”. The medication, Misoprostol, was first introduced for the treatment of gastric ulcers. The U. S. National Library of Medicine states, “Misoprostol is used to prevent ulcers in people who take certain arthritis or pain medicines, including aspirin, that can cause ulcers. It protects the stomach lining and decreases stomach acid secretion.” However, soon women began using it for non-surgical abortions (before 9 weeks of pregnancy) and to aid in surgical abortion by dilating the cervix (also known as inducing).

The individuals at Women on Waves created the flyer. It details exactly how to use, or misuse rather, Misoprostol to abort an unborn child before 9 weeks of growth. To obtain the medication, the instructions say, “Go to the pharmacy, buy _ tablets of Misoprostol. (say it is for your grandmother with arthritis)” They then say to consume ALL _ pills within the first day at allotted times. It then says, “Within 4 hours you can get cramps, nausea, chills, diarrhea, bleeding. If you soak more than 2 maxi sanitary pads per hour for more than 2 hours; if you have a fever or severe pain you have to go to the doctor (you can say you had a miscarriage). After 3 weeks do a pregnancy test.”

After gaining much publicity about the removal, Facebook reinstated Dr. Gomperts’ account as well as her picture. Facebook stated that, at first, the review boards thought that her page violated their terms and conditions but upon review, she had not. This story caught my attention for several reasons.

First, I have stated in other places on this blog, including the post “The Choices Women Don’t Deserve”, that abortion is a very sensitive topic and should be treated with much care and grace, but this takes abortion to another level. Abortion is loosely regulated across the entire world. Here in Pennsylvania, a bill passed placing state regulations on abortion clinics requiring them to comply with the same standards as out-patient clinics. This includes properly trained staffing. This bill came after finding “grotesque” conditions in a clinic in Philadelphia which served primarily minorities and non-English speaking immigrants. You can read the news coverage on the bill here; you can read about the lawsuit filed against the abortion clinic with extreme sub-par conditions here. Women on Waves is advocating for the illegal use of a medication, and encouraging women to lie to obtain it and lie to medical professionals when everything goes wrong.

Secondly, Facebook gained worldwide attention by passively supporting their cause. I encourage freedom of speech, and this blog serves to promote that idea. But if people are putting things on the Internet that encourage women to put themselves at risk of possible death, then this must stop. This is not only extremely dangerous but also WRONG.

Please, please, please join me in fighting against this organization and organizations such as these who advocate for women’s rights but in fact put women in severe medical jeopardy! Please contact the organization directly using the email address below.

Thank you for joining me in the fight for what women’s rights should be, the ability to make sound judgements which will promote their health and well being while preserving their physical, emotional, and spiritual vitality.

You can voice your opinion to Women on Waves by emailing them here. Dr. Rebecca Gompert’s public Facebook page is here.