In the United States, Facebook delivers information leading to the arrest of a minor for illegal abortion

In the wake of the controversies relating to the right to abortion in the United States, it is up to Facebook to attract strong criticism.

Tuesday, August 9, several American media reported that a 17-year-old girl, named Celeste Burgess, was being prosecuted by law enforcement in Nebraska for having performed a clandestine drug abortion at twenty-eight weeks pregnant.

In this state in the center of the United States, the legal period is set at 20 weeks (compared to 14 in France).

The facts date from before the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe

Wade decision on June 24, which enshrined the right to abortion in the United States.

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The charges against the young woman were brought thanks to the juggernaut of social networks: Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram.

The

, a local Nebraska news outlet, reported that authorities invoked a search warrant to gain access to the teenager's Messenger conversations to enable her arrest.

The police also charged his mother, Jessica Burgess.

The 41-year-old is accused of helping her daughter by buying the abortion pills and telling her what to do.

In online chats, the two also reportedly discussed where they buried the fetus after burning it.

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Wave of indignation

The case sparked a wave of indignation among Americans, with many users denouncing the responsibility of the social network in the arrest of the young woman, even though the whole country has been divided since the revocation of this fundamental right for women. .

“Facebook.... it's not good.

I don't know what legal arguments and what negotiations took place for this to happen," wrote a user on Twitter.

And another to add: "Facebook reveals its true face: in the #USA, women hunted down for abortion are found by the police thanks to their conversation".

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The Meta group, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, defended itself in a press release, denying having transmitted this information as part of an investigation for an illegal abortion.

“The warrants were for charges related to a criminal investigation and court documents indicate that police were at the time investigating the case of a stillborn baby who was burned and buried, not the decision to abort” , the company said.

The teenager should be tried in the coming months for “illegal abortion, self-managed abortion and kidnapping, concealment or abandonment of a human corpse”.