who is behind the listening cells on abortion?

These sites appear at the top of search results regarding abortion. They are called: ivg.net, abortion.net or sosbebe.org. They all offer listening centers and highlight numerous testimonies from women who have experienced an abortion. All darker than the others. So what happens when we call these listening cells. Journalist Julie Calderon from Franceinfo’s True or False unit took the test by posing as a 2-week pregnant woman, who is strongly considering terminating her pregnancy. The interlocutor then gives a guilty speech and even suggests a meeting with another person from the organization.

Practices subject to legal action

During an exchange lasting almost an hour, the interlocutor will multiply the arguments to dissuade the journalist from having recourse to an abortion. These listening cells belong to associations also present on social networks. “There is a lot of shocking and dissuasive content that uses medical misinformation, misinformation about women’s health and plays on women’s fears”, explains Cécile Simmmons, research fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. In 2017, the offense of obstructing abortion was extended to websites, the practices of these associations could therefore be subject to legal action. “These sites have a very significant impact on the Internet, because they are very well referenced”specifies Julie Calderon on the set of 19/20 info.