Roe v Wade: Toxic Narratives and Misinformation Spreading Around the World
July 8, 2022 — ANNA LEKAS MILLER
Overturning Roe v. Wade in June put abortion on the verge of becoming illegal in twenty-six states, potentially criminalising both people seeking abortions and abortion providers across the United States. Meanwhile, far right Christian groups across both the United States and Europe are celebrating the US Supreme Court decision, hoping that the anti-abortion movement will spread to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean next.
“‘If you were trying to stick a needle in my body last year, don’t try to tell me ‘my body my choice,’ says one meme published to a Gab message board, with a blonde-haired shrug emoji.”
In some ways, it already has—through the power of the Internet. Across social media, anti-abortion memes are circulating, often taking pages out of the anti-vaxxer and QAnon playbooks, informing misleading narratives that could sway public opinion, or, even worse, broadcast information that could endanger someone’s life while they are seeking vital healthcare.
“If you were trying to stick a needle in my body last year, don’t try to tell me ‘my body my choice,” says one meme published to a Gab message board, with a blonde-haired shrug emoji. Another one draws on the political conversation around gun violence, following both the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas and the White supremacy-motivated terrorist attack in Buffalo, New York. In bold text, it says “Ban These Assault Weapons” over an image—but the image is not assault rifles; it is speculums and IUDs.
“One of the top agenda items was the anti-abortion movement, specifically how “forced child birth” is the next frontier for Great Replacement anxieties.”
It is not limited to standard anti-abortion narratives or US politics. Disturbingly, there is extensive overlap with White supremacist movements, and at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) meeting in Budapest, Hungary in May, convened by Hungarian President Viktor Orbán specifically to cement alliances between the US and European far right, both of whom are united over anxieties that immigrant communities will “replace” white communities. One of the top agenda items was the anti-abortion movement, specifically how “forced child birth” is the next frontier for Great Replacement anxieties.
Online, far right influencers—from podcasters such as Matt Walsh to White supremacist and incel communities on platforms like Gab and Truth Social, as well as more local Telegram communities, have echoed these sentiments, and are going even further to say that they will “make life suck” for liberals, advocating for “stalking pregnant women to make sure they follow through” and even celebrating #WhiteBoySummer.
“TikTok remains the fastest growing social media platform and one of the most downloaded applications”
Many have pointed out that Generation Z is far more progressive than previous generations, with a Cosmopolitan and YouGov survey finding that two out of three Gen Z’ers identify as pro-choice, and are motivated to pushback against the crackdown on reproductive rights across the United States. However, this does not erase the fact that there are dozens of TikTok accounts feature young, anti-abortion influencers, pushing anti-abortion talking points and misleading narratives, including the idea that Plan B, or the “morning after pill” is an abortifacient, while repeatedly referring to abortion seekers and providers as murderers. As TikTok remains the fastest growing social media platform and one of the most downloaded applications, with a demographic skewing under the age of twenty-five, these videos—and the information that they are broadcasting— are a tremendous influence among young people.
With the exception of countries like Poland and Malta, abortion has always been far less politicised in Europe and the United Kingdom. Still, political alliances such as the Conservative Political Action Committee meeting in Budapest as well as the recent revelation that US-based anti-abortion groups are funding UK anti-abortion groups to push anti-abortion talking points in UK schools shows that, in a globalised world characterised by the information era, these ideas are hardly contained by borders. UK-based TikTok creators are taking a page out of the US playbook, insisting that a fetus is a child, and influencing the debate as to whether or not “my body, my choice” holds up when a fetus is an independent body living inside of someone else.
Other narratives are less explicitly political—but just as destructive, and likely to have an international impact. Instagram influencers that advocate for natural medicine, for example, have jumped on the trending topic to promote the rhythm method, and rail against proven and reliable methods of birth control, playing right into the far right’s narrative, similar to their shared concerns over the COVID-19 vaccine, which mobilised a viral anti-vaxxer movement around the world.
“Toxic narratives have the ability to sway the debate around the world, building an alliance based around far right ideologies that transcend borders, and affect all of us.”
Meanwhile, #WitchTok—a segment of TikTok that promotes everything from herbal remedies to spells to cast during a full moon—has been promoting herbal solutions to induce a miscarriage, which doctors have pointed out could have lasting health consequences and even kill people if used in large quantities. Many of the herbal remedies, promoted by both #WitchTok and the wider community of questionably qualified natural healers, more popular on Instagram, promote practices that originate from communities who have not always had access to healthcare and had to devise alternatives. Unfortunately for people who do not have access to affordable healthcare in the United States, the same could be said today.
It is important to keep safety in mind while creating content, as well. A number of TikTok users in states where abortion remains legal have turned to the platform to show their solidarity for people seeking abortion in states where it is criminalised, sharing that they live near several “camp sites” and are happy to house anyone while they prepare for a “camping trip.” Dozens of reproductive health advocates have pointed out that this well-intentioned trend is a thinly veiled innuendo, which could identify and criminalise people who are circumventing state laws to access abortion. It opens the door for law enforcement officers to pose as kind strangers offering lodging as a tactic for a sting operation, potentially putting people seeking abortions in harm’s way. Instead, reproductive health advocates recommend volunteering or donating to pre-existing abortion funds, which have the most up-to-date and accurate information on seeking appropriate healthcare and digital and personal security protocols to protect those seeking and providing abortions.
“Now, it is more important than ever to pay attention to these narratives, and combat the misinformation that they produce.”
For now, these laws are only affecting women trying to access abortion in the United States. However, if the way that far right online and offline influencers are able to mobilise global communities, over everything from resisting the COVID-19 vaccine to the Great Replacement Theory, is any indication, these toxic narratives have the ability to sway the debate around the world, building an alliance based around far right ideologies that transcend borders, and affect all of us. Today, it is anti-abortion narratives that frame people seeking and providing abortions as murderers who do not respect the right to life. However, it is important to recognise that this is part of an ideology that is doing everything from advocating for “forced childbirth” to soothing anxieties over the “Great Replacement” to begging to return to “traditional gender roles.” Along with cracking down on the right to seek an abortion, it also threatens LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights, as well as communities of colour. Now, it is more important than ever to pay attention to these narratives, and combat the misinformation that they produce.
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