Facebook fails to stop Spanish language anti-abortion disinformation, study says

Anti-abortion Facebook pages with millions of followers are spreading disinformation about abortion to Spanish speakers with little to no intervention from the social media platform, according to a new report from Naral Pro-Choice America.

The report comes as reproductive rights are in peril in the US with the supreme court expected to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling, which guaranteed the right to abortion in the US.

Many of the Spanish-language Facebook pages examined by Naral researchers spread disinformation about the safety of abortion, claiming that it leads to increased risk of breast cancer, anxiety, infertility, depression and suicide. Some posts have been viewed thousands of times without intervention from Facebook.

The content spreads the same disinformation about abortion as English-language anti-abortion groups, which also push medically inaccurate information about abortion and demonizes abortion providers, the report says.

Catholicism plays a key role in much of the Spanish-language content, which suggests that support for abortion care conflicts with religious identity. The Spanish-speaking anti-abortion movement relies on stereotypes, said Gabriela Rico, the lead researcher for the report, such as that Latinx people widely oppose abortion and are all Catholic.

A recent Navigator Research poll found that 65% of Hispanic Americans support Congress passing a law to guarantee the right to an abortion in the US.