Misinformation related to abortion pertains to incorrect or misleading information related to abortion and its implications, including its medical, legal and societal effects.[1]Misinformation and disinformation related to abortion often stems from political, religious and social groups, particularly on social media.
Abortion misinformation can negatively impact public opinion, access to abortion services and policy-making. Misinformation can also divert pregnant people from accessing safe and timely care from appropriately trained medical practitioners, leading to severe long-term complications and/or death.[2] Abortion misinformation can also lead to confusion and societal stigma for those procuring or undergoing the procedure.[3]
Commonly propagated misinformation
Misconceptions/myths on abortion:
Abortion is a dangerous medical procedure: Abortion is a relatively safe medical procedure. There are twice as many complications associated with wisdom teeth removal than with abortion. The complications related to childbirth is more common and serious than the complications related to abortion.[4]
Abortion is a rare procedure: Abortion is so common that around 25% of the women in US will have undergone an abortion before 45 years of age.[4] Each year, hundreds of thousands of more abortions happen in the US than other surgeries like appendicectomy or hysterectomy.[5]
Undergoing abortion increases the risk for breast cancer: There is no conclusive evidence for the association of abortion with breast cancer. The US National Institute of Cancer and the UK Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have independently concluded that induced abortion is not associated with an increased cancer risk.[6]
Abortion will result in negative mental health outcomes: The relative risk of mental health problems in women undergoing a first trimester abortion of an unwanted pregnancy is no greater than the risk among women who give birth to an unwanted pregnancy.[6]
Fetus perceives excruciating pain during abortion: The connection between the thalamus and cortex of the brain of the fetus is not fully developed until the 24th week of gestation, which means that perception of pain is not possible until after 24 weeks.[7] Such late abortions are extremely rare, and only 1% of the abortions are conducted after 21 weeks of pregnancy.[8] Secondly, the fetus is not conscious before birth, due to the sedating effect of the physical environment in the uterus. Therefore, it is less likely that fetus can experience pain before birth, even when the brain is fully developed and synaptic connections are in place.[6]
There is an increased risk of fertility problems after abortion: There is no conclusive evidence that undergoing an abortion increases the risk for subsequent infertility.[6]
Abortion pills are unsafe: Medical abortion is both safe and effective for when taken as directed by regulated healthcare bodies.[1]
Herbal medicine can help provide safe abortion: There is no sufficient scientific evidence showing any herbal products being able to provide safe abortion. In fact, use of some herbs for abortion might cause serious health problems. Additionally, if the abortion effort was unsuccessful, some herbal medication can cause lasting damage to the fetus if it is brought to term.[1]
Extent and scope
Digital platforms have often been a source of misinformation regarding abortion. A 2014 investigation into the websites of crisis pregnancy centers revealed that 80% of these sites disseminated inaccurate information, frequently perpetuating unfounded myths about the health risks associated with abortion.[9]
Another study analyzing the first five results from Google searches related to abortion medication found the majority of these pages propagated similar misinformation. Common inaccuracies on these web pages include claims that abortion medication can lead to mental illness, adversely affect fertility, or elevate mortality risk, despite none of those things being backed up by science.[10]
A report from the Guttmacher Institute showed that information presented in the state health departments of the United States sometimes contain inaccurate or incomplete information, including out-of-date and biased information.[11] The same report and another study showed that an overwhelming majority of the crisis pregnancy centers provided misleading information related to abortion.[12]
Social media
A study showed that 36.5% of the posts related to abortion on Instagram contained misinformation. Out of the misinformation posts containing medical information, 84.2% were anti-abortion. Around 97% of misinformation posts were created by non-medical providers.[13]
Facebook ads for abortion reversal, an unproven and unsafe medical procedure, deliberately targeted women and girls as young as 13 and have been shown to Facebook users up to 18.4 million times. Google also placed ads for abortion reversal in as much as 83% of the searches related to abortion.[14]
Effects
Lawmaking
Misinformation related to abortion among healthcare professionals and legislators may lead to abortion legislation being written vaguely or inaccurately.[15][16] In part due to misinformation related to abortion, in some states, abortion has been heavily criminalized, including becoming classified as a felony that could carry heavy jail time.[17] John Becker, an Ohio lawmaker, introduced a bill that would subject doctors to murder charges if they did not do everything possible to save the life of fetus - specifically including trying to re-implant an ectopic pregnancy, despite that not being scientifically possible.[18] Becker later stated he had not researched ectopic pregnancies before writing the bill.[19]
Confusing information related to abortion may also cause physicians to deny abortions in instances where the patient's complications are considered to not have met the legal threshold for "life threatening,"[20][21] with several birthing people dying because of delated care.[22]
Abortion misinformation results in physicians getting less opportunities or having less incentives to practice abortion care, resulting in fewer physicians qualifying for performing procedural abortions.[23]
Public Confusion
The impact of abortion misinformation is wide-reaching, influencing individuals across the spectrum of beliefs about abortion. Marginalized communities often face heightened adverse effects from abortion misinformation due to their higher abortion rates, reduced access to healthcare, lower levels of health literacy, limited access to reliable health information, and a diminished trust in healthcare providers, as well as due to a prolonged history of systemic racism in healthcare.[23]
A survey found that 67% of "pro-choice" respondents and 88% of "pro-life" respondents believed that childbirth is either safer or as safe as undergoing an abortion. Contrary to these beliefs, childbirth's mortality rate is considerably higher, ranging between 50 and 130 times greater than that of abortion.[5]
About 25 to 30% of American women will have an abortion at some point in their lives. However, highly educated and higher-income Americans are likely to believe that abortion is rare. Among Americans without a college degree, 54% underestimate abortion rates, compared with 70% of those with graduate degrees. The frequency of abortion is underestimated by 67% of men and 57% of women. Low income and less educated women, the group that is more likely to undergo an abortion, were more likely to estimate the abortion rates correctly.[5]
