Meta tells employees to stop discussing abortion at work

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

An executive at Meta told employees on Thursday that they are not allowed to talk about abortion on workplace, an internal version of Facebook, because it is seen as a hostile work environment.

Meta put in place a policy that prohibits employees from discussing abortion being right or wrong, availability or rights of abortion, political, religious, and humanitarian views. Some employees want management to do away with the policy after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn the abortion law.

During an all-hands meeting with employees Thursday, Meta's VP of HR said that abortion was the most divisive and reported topic by employees on workplace. She said that even if people are respectful, it can still leave them feeling like they are being targeted because of their gender or religion.

A person for Meta didn't have a comment by press time.

Most large companies have yet to state their stance on abortion bans. If employees leave Texas because of the abortion ban, they will be assisted with moving expenses if they choose to, and Amazon andTesla will cover some expenses for pregnant employees who need to travel for an abortion. Drivers who are sued for driving a person seeking an abortion will be covered by the two ride-sharing companies. One of the strongest stances taken has been by Jeremy Stoppelman, the CEO of Yelp, who argued in an op-ed that companies need to take a stand on reproductive rights.

After the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion sought to overturn abortion rights at a federal level, Meta's number-two executive, Sheryl Sandberg, called abortion one of our most fundamental rights on her public Facebook page.

Meta pushed back on the discussion of abortion. Naomi Gleit, one of the most senior executives at Meta, wrote in an internal post that the company had placed restrictions around discussion of abortion. She said that employees were only allowed to discuss abortion at work with a trusted colleague in a private setting.

The policy banning discussion of abortion has caused division among employees in recent weeks, with some supporting it and others sharing their frustration about having posts on the topic removed, according to the comments seen by The Verge. Several comments about the policy were posted by employees under the livestream and removed as the meeting progressed.

A female employee who has been at the company for 10 years wrote in an internal post that she felt a strong sense of silence and isolation because of the company's policy.

The same policy allows us to discuss sensitive issues such as immigration, climate change, Black Lives Matter, gun rights, and vaccination. The process of dealing with the Respectful Communication policy, being told why my post is violating, and crafting this new post has felt dehumanizing.