Four Years After Dobbs, Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Keep Coming for Online Speech
5 hours ago
- #Digital Rights
- #Censorship
- #Abortion Access
- Four years post-Dobbs, digital rights and reproductive rights are increasingly linked due to efforts targeting online abortion information.
- Officials use cease-and-desist letters, lawsuits, and laws to censor websites that only share information, not provide services.
- States like Alabama and Arkansas have targeted sites like Plan C and Mayday Health for 'facilitating' illegal abortion via information.
- Broad laws, like South Dakota's felony 'advertising' ban, threaten speech by covering advocacy and educational resources.
- Anti-abortion officials weaponize consumer protection laws to claim abortion information is deceptive, challenging First Amendment rights.
- Efforts extend to intermediaries (e.g., ISPs, hosts) to erase entire websites, conflicting with Section 230 protections.
- These tactics set a precedent for suppressing disfavored viewpoints online beyond abortion, risking broader free expression.