They don't like shutting down abortion clinics. Information about abortion access on the internet should be scrubbed. Defending online speech about abortion is a matter of life or death. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act needs to be woken up by Democrats. If they don't start listening to the warnings of human rights experts, sex workers, LGBTQ+ folks, and reproductive rights groups, Democrats could help right-wing extremists achieve their goal of mass censorship of online content about abortion.
On the ground, in court, and online, reproductive justice groups have been fighting back since the Supreme Court overturned the contraceptives law of 1973. Crowdfunding platforms have seen a huge amount of donations for abortion funds. Ad hoc groups have sprung up on places like Facebook where people are sharing resources and helping those in need. All of this is vulnerable.
Texas has enacted legislation that allows anyone to file a lawsuit for facilitating access to abortion care. Information about managing the abortion process, obtaining an abortion pill, and finding a clinic that offers abortions can be shared. A model state law has been released by the National Right to Life Committee. It says that anti-choice laws must be written to prevent state residents from getting abortions in states where it's legal to do so. Several states are expected to pass this law.
Section 230 is the final line of defense for reproductive health care support. Moderate user-generated content can't be sued for by internet platforms. There is a section that is not absolute. immunity from the enforcement of federal criminal laws is not provided if the platform develops or creates content It protects against criminal liability from state law.
This means that a lawsuit from an anti-abortion group concerning speech about reproductive health care or a criminal proceeding launched by a forced birth state attorney general would be quickly dismissed. If Section 230 is weakened, there will be a lot of state law enforcement actions and civil lawsuits against online platforms and payment processing companies. Section 230 is a defense that can be used to get the lawsuits dismissed quickly.
Extremists are well resourced and ideological. Tech companies want to make money Many online platforms will comply with the most restrictive state laws rather than fighting in court. They will restrict access to information about abortion. Many groups, pages, online communities, nonprofits, and health care access funds could be shut down and removed from the internet because of this. Lawmakers in Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas have the power to set the rules for online speech.
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