Meta employees can't talk about abortion on internal platform

MENLO PARK, Calif. - Some Facebook employees are not happy about the company's policy that bans them from talking about abortion on the job.

The vice president of human resources for Meta re-iterated to employees that talking about abortion on the company's internal platform is not allowed, because of the risk of creating a hostile work environment.

The policy, which Meta put in place in 2019, prohibits employees from discussing "opinions or debates about abortion being right or wrong, availability or rights of abortion, and political, religious, and humanitarian views on the topic," according to a section of the company’s internal "Respectful Communication Policy," The Verge first reported.

Many employees, The Verge also reported, oppose the company's policy, which doesn't allow workers to talk respectfully about issues in the news, like Black Lives Matter and immigration.

Last week, Meta’s VP of HR, Janelle Gale, said that abortion was "the most divisive and reported topic" by employees on Workplace, the internal platform. 

She said that "even if people are respectful, and they’re attempting to be respectful about their view on abortion, it can still leave people feeling like they’re being targeted based on their gender or religion," according to a recording of her comments obtained by The Verge. "It’s the one unique topic that kind of trips that line on a protected class pretty much in every instance."

A spokesperson for Meta did not respond for comment. 

On Monday, the Supreme Court did not include a ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the highly-anticipated abortion case that could overrule Roe v. Wade.

A leaked draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito aimed to do just that, stating that "Roe and Casey must be overruled," referring to the original 1973 case that established a constitutional right to get an abortion, and 1992's Planned Parenthood v. Casey that upheld that right.