BMSG statement: Why strong journalism is crucial for the future of Roe
Wednesday, May 04, 2022Within hours of Politico publishing a leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that protects a woman’s right to reproductive freedom, cable news channels were abuzz with punditry, and memes expressing fear and overwhelm flooded social media.
Politico’s move was a courageous, unprecedented act — one that its editor-in-chief said reflects the publication’s deep sense of responsibility to its readers. Now that the information is out in the open, the debate about a person’s right to choose the number and timing of their births moves from the high court to the court of public opinion. As dire as the situation feels, that means there is a window of opportunity for advocates, decision-makers, journalists, and others to take a public stand against the court’s majority opinion.
There is a window of opportunity for advocates, decision-makers, journalists, and others to take a public stand against the court’s draft opinion.
Together, we can raise our voices and repeat in no uncertain terms the reality of abortion:
- abortion is safe in countries where it is legal;
- abortion is common;
- most people who have abortions are or will later become parents;
- as has been the case for decades, most people in the United States support reproductive freedom (6 in 10 U.S. residents say abortion should be legal in all or most situations).
Advocates can help journalists shift and expand coverage so that it is thorough and accurate and avoids common missteps. BMSG’s research has found that news about abortion tends to:
- echo medically inaccurate information and disinformation;
- omit the voices of people who provide or undergo the procedure;
- discredit abortion providers;
- give the fetus more rights than the pregnant person;
- use stigmatizing language and assign negative motivations to people who have abortions.
Other research has shown that news coverage tends to portray abortion as a political issue rather than a health issue, obscure the country’s strong level of voter support for abortion, and include misleading terms like “heartbeat bill” without proper context. (Such language does not reflect that the fetus does not yet have a fully formed heart when this electrical impulse is first detected). Abortion news also frequently discusses reproductive outcomes as a binary, with pregnancy ending either with a healthy, live baby or an abortion. Doing so gives readers a distorted, limited view of real-life reproductive realities, like miscarriages or tubal pregnancies, which are fatal for the fetus and dangerous for the pregnant person.
High-quality coverage of abortion should be the norm in media outlets across the country.
Journalists have a responsibility to bring the public the full picture about abortion. High-quality coverage, like this in-depth series from The New York Times,’ should already be the norm in media outlets across the country. But we can only move forward. Advocates can write blogs, pitch story ideas, and submit op-eds and letters to the editor to help create more complete coverage. We need articles that feature voices of people who have firsthand experience with abortion; expose gendered, racial, and class-based inequities (lower-income and communities of color will be the most affected if the SCOTUS draft decision holds); and discuss why this matters for the overall well-being of people who become pregnant, families, and entire communities. After all, this debate involves far more than a medical procedure; it is a struggle over power, autonomy, and who we value in our society.
Against a backdrop of increasingly aggressive abortion bans in states like Texas and Oklahoma, the leaked court document will bring conversations about family planning into small media markets across the county. In some locations, reporters may be covering abortion for the first time, and they will need support to ensure that their coverage is accurate. BMSG is committed to equipping advocates with the information they need to provide that support. We will also continue to monitor the news about abortion, uplift examples of solid reporting, and help advocates make their voices heard in the fight for reproductive justice.
To learn more about media coverage of abortion, its gaps, and opportunities for improvement, see our news analysis.
To go behind the scenes of the NYT abortion series and learn more about building relationships with editorial boards, read our blog.
For tips on media advocacy, see our guides to developing effective op-eds and letters to the editor.
In solidarity,
The BMSG team