Photo-sharing app Instagram has pulled a series of pro-life comic illustrations, claiming that they violate the platform’s “hate speech” rules.
The comic strip, created by “The Babylon Bee” and “Christian Daily Reporter” founder, Adam Ford, depicts a conversation between two people on the evils of the slave trade.
Set 200 years ago, the two fictitious characters converse with each other over the proposed justification of slavery.
“Does slavery ever bother you?” a woman asks her friend.
The woman has come to the conclusion that it is, indeed, wrong, and is attempting to convince the other person of her viewpoint.
Then, the comic cuts to “200 years later,” and shows a character asking the simple question: “Does abortion ever bother you?”
Ford said that, upon checking his Instagram post, he was told that the post had been deleted because it violated the app’s “community guidelines.”
Check out the full strip below:
Image source: Adam Ford
Image source: Adam Ford
Image source: Adam Ford
Image source: Adam Ford
Image source: Adam Ford
Writing at the Christian Daily Reporter, Ford noted that he is “hardly the first person to espouse the belief (and hope) that one day society will look back on abortion with the same mortified disbelief we now have when we consider our country’s history of institutionalized chattel slavery.”
“Millions and millions of pro-life Americans — of all races — see the heartbreaking similarities between abortion-on-demand and the forced enslavement of human beings,” Ford wrote.
He added: “There is no way any human being could believe my comic is promoting slavery, since the two women talking are clearly identified as living 200 years ago, and the woman on the right is clearly the ‘bad guy.'”
Finally, Ford posed a couple of pointed questions to the social media giant:
“Does Instagram consider it ‘hate speech’ to contend for the humanity and personhood of the unborn?” he asked, adding, “If I had published the exact same comic, but instead used it to promote abortion (i.e. ‘without abortion rights, women cannot attain full equal personhood’ — an argument used on the left), would it have been removed as ‘hate speech’?”
As of Wednesday morning, Ford is still awaiting a response from Instagram.