By Mark Ellis –
Seth Gruber grew up in the pro-life movement and has been speaking publicly against the tragedy of abortion since he was 19. One of the most effective young advocates on behalf of the prolife movement, he speaks frequently at Christian high schools, churches, and training seminars.
Host of the podcast Un-Aborted!, he was chagrined to discover Facebook removed a YouTube link on February 17th to a recent podcast interview with an abortion survivor, stating in vague terms that he violated their “community standards” by posting the link.
Gruber had recorded the interview with abortion survivor Melissa Ohden in January, while he was at the March for Life in Washington D.C.
“I shared the link to that YouTube clip on my Facebook page and my personal Facebook account,” he says. “Shortly after doing so, Facebook notified me the post on my personal account violated their community standards.”
Facebook never stated which standards he violated. “They removed the post entirely. It is no longer accessible or can be viewed from my personal account.”
“They are feckless cowards. Their justification and wording was along the lines of not wanting to mislead others with incorrect information,” he says.
Gruber has appealed the censorship, but is not optimistic about a reversal.
“This is the same debate that’s been going on for years with this kind of content. It is almost exclusively conservative and pro-life content that is targeted without being told what community standards are being violated.”
The message he received from Facebook said this: “Your post goes against our community standards on spam. No one else can see your post. We have these standards to help prevent people from misleading others. We may restrict your account if you violate our standards again.”
Gruber believes the charge is baseless. “It is some leftist orthodoxy that is somewhere out there in the ether they subjectively apply to content they don’t like without ever specifying which community standards you violated. They never point out which rule in their community standards you violated.”
Melissa Ohden, the subject of his interview, survived a saline infusion abortion in 1977. He noted in his introduction of the podcast that she is “the director of the Abortion Survivors’ Network by day and a nightmare to the pro abortion movement at all hours, Melissa was anything but unplanned. Melissa joined me in D.C. to tell her unfiltered and inspiring story, a prophetic voice at a propitious moment.”
After his introduction, Gruber placed a YouTube link to the video interview.
“It is ironic that when pro abortion activists can’t silence children in the womb through dismemberment, they try to silence the voice of those who survive that procedure under the guise of misleading others.
“The story of abortion survivors presents a full-frontal ideological challenge to their entire premise, that unborn children are not persons with rights and that women who practice reproductive health care are exercising ‘health care.’ What if that health care choice fails, then that is a human being.”
“Abortion survivors are the nightmare of the pro abortion movement. Their stories are so important and powerful.
“That’s probably why they blocked it.”
To learn more about Seth Gruber’s advocacy, go here
