Roe v. Wade | Instagram, Facebook remove posts offering abortion pills

Memes and status updates explaining how women in the U. S. could legally obtain abortion pills in the mail exploded across social platforms after the Supreme Court removed constitutional protection for abortion

Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them in the U. S. following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure in the country.

Such social media posts ostensibly aimed to help women living in states where preexisting laws banning abortion suddenly snapped into effect on Friday. That's when the high court overruled Roe v. Wade, its 1973 decision that declared access to abortion a constitutional right.

Explained | How will the  Roe v. Wade rollback impact women? 

Memes and status updates explaining how women could legally obtain abortion pills in the mail exploded across social platforms. Some even offered to mail the prescriptions to women living in states that now ban the procedure.

Almost immediately, Facebook and Instagram began removing some of these posts, just as millions across the U. S. were searching for clarity around abortion access. General mentions of abortion pills, as well as posts mentioning specific versions such as mifepristone and misoprostol, suddenly spiked Friday morning across Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and TV broadcasts, according to an analysis by the media intelligence firm Zignal Labs.

By Sunday, Zignal had counted more than 250,000 such mentions.

The AP obtained a screenshot on Friday of one Instagram post from a woman who offered to purchase or forward abortion pills through the mail, minutes after the court ruled to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion.