Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall: No Season is a Good One for Disinformation

With Roe v. Wade facing an unprecedented threat at the U.S. Supreme Court, it’s important that we amplify accurate facts about abortion. It can be hard to differentiate between fact and fiction sometimes, especially when bad actors are pushing a flood of lies and misleading claims. As anti-choice extremists work to chip away at reproductive freedom, they are constantly spreading harmful disinformation to block people from accessing abortion care and justify their harmful and unpopular policies. The anti-choice movement knowingly spreads false information to confuse and manipulate the public in an effort to gain support for its unpopular agenda to outlaw abortion and exert power and control over people’s lives. It’s crucial that we stop them in their tracks and shine a light on anti-choice lies.

Luckily, you can equip yourself with the knowledge to debunk the lies anti-choice extremists are spreading and amplify the truth! Start here, by learning more about disinformation and how it impacts our movement.

• Disinformation is false information deliberately promoted with the intent to mislead or manipulate people. Disinformation about abortion fuels anti-choice attacks on reproductive freedom by creating confusion and manipulating people’s emotions with false information. The truth is, 8 in 10 Americans support legal abortion, so anti-choice activists need to rely on deceptive tactics and falsehoods to gain support.
• There’s a difference between disinformation and misinformation. Misinformation is shared unintentionally, while disinformation is promoted deliberately because bad actors have something to gain by lying. There’s a lot of disinformation right now fueling restrictions and bans on abortion across the country — and it’s all part of a deliberate strategy to attack reproductive freedom. The anti-choice movement knows its agenda is unpopular, so it uses disinformation to muddy the waters about abortion and fuel the push for restrictions.
• Anti-choice activists frequently use disinformation to disguise extreme bans and restrictions on abortion. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization next month, a case which has the potential to overturn Roe — and the briefs filed in support of Mississippi’s 15-week ban on abortion were full of disinformation and misleading claims. That’s why it’s more important than ever to call out disinformation when we see it.
• When you encounter disinformation, stop, drop, and call it out!
  1. Stop and verify the claim is disinformation.
  2. Drop the real facts so the person who shared the false information is exposed to the truth.
  3. Call out the tactics the actor that created the disinformation is using to manipulate the truth.
• Inoculate your family and friends against anti-choice disinformation by sharing accurate and proactive messages about abortion care. When people understand our values and the world we’re working to create, they’re much less likely to believe anti-choice lies when they encounter them.

With a case directly challenging Roe set to be heard by the Supreme Court on December 1 and anti-choice extremists pushing disinformation and bans on abortion at an unprecedented pace, the time to take action is now. Fight back against anti-choice extremists by telling the Senate to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), shining a light on anti-choice disinformation, and volunteering with NARAL to help support reproductive freedom!