Activists Launch Panicked Social Media Campaign After Roe – Here Are Six Misconceptions

Misconceptions and misinformation about the state of abortion in the United States have escaped on social media as abortion supporters react to the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

Panicked activists insist on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and other platforms that authorities will track women through their period apps or that doctors will refuse to help women who have ectopic pregnancies.

And over and over, activists insist: “Women will die.”

1. Overturning Roe v. Wade Ended Abortion In The U.S.

Many on the Right and Left have misunderstood what Roe v. Wade actually entails, assuming that overturning the monumental Supreme Court decision ends abortion in the United States.

In reality, the overturning of Roe declared that there is no constitutional right to abortion and sent the power to decide abortion laws back to the states.

In South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma,, Alabama, Tennessee,, and Ohio, abortion bans have been in effect since Roe v. Wade was overturned, according to the Washington Post. South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Iowa, West Virginia, and Utah are likely to enact abortion bans soon, most delayed by litigation, according to the publication.

2. Removing Ectopic Pregnancies Is Banned

Viral social media posts claim that “the treatment for an ectopic pregnancy is abortion” and that such treatment has now been banned in many states.

But even the Planned Parenthood Federation of America admits that “treating an ectopic pregnancy isn’t the same thing as getting an abortion.””Abortion is a medical procedure that when done safely, ends a pregnancy that’s in your uterus,” Planned Parenthood’s website states. “Ectopic pregnancies are unsafely outside of your uterus (usually in the fallopian tubes), and are removed with a medicine called methotrexate or through a laparoscopic surgical procedure.”

“The medical procedures for abortions are not the same as the medical procedures for an ectopic pregnancy,” the Planned Parenthood website adds.

3. Miscarriages Will Be Prosecuted As Abortions

Social media users have also spread the misconception that miscarriages will be prosecuted as abortions. This is fear mongering, according to the Lozier Institute.

“It is clearly the standard of care for any physician to intervene in a pregnancy that presents a risk to the mother’s life,” the institute says. “Laws restricting induced abortion will not prohibit such an intervention.”

“Whether abortion is available, or whether a state or country has restricted abortion – even late-term abortions after a baby can feel pain from the procedure, – if a mother is facing medical risks from a pregnancy, her health can, should, and by medical standards must, be addressed,” the Lozier Institute adds.

4. Birth Control And Gay Marriage Are Next

President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats were quick to purport that Republicans will not stop at Roe v. Wade, warning Americans that the GOP will next target birth control and LGBTQ rights.

These lawmakers are perhaps drawing on Justice Clarence Thomas’ suggestion in the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade that “in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”

While these are cases that deal with contraception, gay sex, and gay marriage, and this was a suggestion from a Supreme Court justice, birth control, gay marriage, and gay sex do not face imminent attacks from Republicans.

5. Authorities Will Track You Through Your Period Tracker

Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged her Instagram followers from red states to delete their period tracking apps, suggesting that authorities would target women based on data from these apps.

Ocasio-Cortez is not alone in her concerns — Biden himself has claimed that “extremist governors and state legislators” will track data on “her apps,” and many social media users have expressed the same anxieties.

“Turn off those period trackers, red state ladies,” tweeted Joy-Ann Reid. “You live in Gilead now.”

Numerous major media outlets have also reported that many women are deleting their period tracker apps, citing concerns about data privacy. But there is not any apparent evidence to suggest that lawmakers seek to use period tracking data to investigate women.

“This is the first I’ve heard of that,” Texas State Sen. Brian Hughes, the author of the state’s much discussed heartbeat bill, told The Daily Wire.

“I’m a ‘no’ on that,” he added of lawmakers using period app data to track women’s menstrual cycles.

The Wall Street Journal attempted to link menstrual data to government investigations, noting that in 2019, Missouri’s health department said that it tracked the menstrual cycles of some Planned Parenthood patients.

But the publication failed to note that state officials were investigating the last Planned Parenthood for numerous health violations, including failing to report botched or failed abortions.

Health officials had tracked the menstrual cycles of some Planned Parenthood patients to identify who had undergone a failed abortion. The state ultimately found four patients who had failed abortions and had to return to the Planned Parenthood more than once.

This discovery prompted the health department to cancel the Planned Parenthood’s abortion license, citing “grave concerns.”

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