How Should Journalists Report on Reproductive Health?
After the imminent overturn of Roe v. Wade became public knowledge, the media storm on reproductive health and rights has been nonstop. As this is a heavily weighted issue, it is difficult to parse through the high and difficult emotions surrounding it to report on some basic truths that need to reach the ears of the public.
Misinformation about women’s health is rampant. Todd Akin, a Republican candidate for the United States Senate, suggested that women’s bodies had ways to “shut [rape] down” and not get pregnant. An article from 2019 suggests that men know next to nothing about women’s bodies and only seek to control them. So, in reporting on the issue of reproductive health, we must sift through this state-sanctioned misinformation and get to the root of the issue.
Understanding Roe v. Wade
Norma McCorvey, going by the moniker “Jane Roe” to protect her identity, became pregnant in 1969 in Texas. She wanted an abortion, but abortion was illegal in Texas unless it was to save the life of the mother. She sued district attorney Henry Wade on the grounds that Texas’s abortion laws were unconstitutional. The case was ruled in McCorvey’s favor by a 7-2 vote and abortion laws throughout the United States were rendered unconstitutional. The ruling set up a dynamic of three trimesters in pregnancy, which allowed restrictions on abortion in the third trimester.
The case was revisited again in 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey, where the court upheld its prior assertions on Roe but abandoned the trimester structure in favor of a fetal viability structure.
Understanding The Consequences If Roe Is Struck Down
Thirteen states have “trigger laws” set up for if/when Roe v. Wade is overturned. These laws are designed to ban or severely restrict abortion rights. In some cases, abortion is banned even in the case of ectopic pregnancies, which result in the deaths of both the mother and the fetus. Several states are also trying to criminalize traveling to obtain an abortion, or criminalizing the act as homicide. Other states have specifically outlawed abortions in the cases of rape and incest.
Globally, 47 percent of abortions are high risk. High risk abortions lead to an estimated 7 million hospitalizations and 47,000 deaths annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Understanding The Complications Of Overturning Roe
Marginalized communities are at far greater risk for hospitalization and death from the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as they face overlapping systems of oppression. Communities that will be most heavily affected include disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, Black people, Indigenous people, and people who live with low incomes or government assistance.
Understanding a few factors is key here:
Most marginalized communities have higher rates of pregnancy due to less resources, education, connections to contraception, or healthcare.
Marginalized communities, specifically Black Women, also have higher maternal mortality rates than non-marginalized counterparts due to lack of equity and access to healthcare.
Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana all have high populations of Black people but extremely low access to healthcare. They are also all states that have trigger laws in response to overturning Roe. Losing Roe will make that access harder and more expensive.
Additionally, women are not the only gender affected by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Trans people, specifically trans men, will also be disproportionately targeted by these laws. Of trans people who have ever been pregnant, 32 percent have received an abortion.
Abortion As A Global Issue
While the overturning of Roe v. Wade is most certainly extremely consequential to the United States, abortion is not just a United States issue. Currently, abortion rights are expanding in much of Central and South America, where, previously, high-risk abortions made up 75 percent of all abortions. Chile, Colombia, Argentina, and Mexico have all expanded abortion access in recent years.
On the other side of that, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia have kept abortions illegal. Poland recently passed a law restricting access to abortions for any reason. In Africa, the only four countries with unhindered access to abortion rights are: Benin, South Africa, Mozambique, and Tunisia. Abortion is banned throughout the Middle East and South Asia, with only India, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam offering them on request.
With an issue so close to so many journalists’ hearts and minds, objective and truthful reporting on the consequences of Roe v. Wade being overturned can be difficult. Truth and inclusivity when reporting on an issue that will go on to affect millions of people is the most important tenet of our role as media.
