Introduction

In May 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) signed a state law that essentially bans all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. This law is in violation of the court case ruling of Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), which protects the right of women to receive a safe abortion. After the passing of the law, the Supreme Court refused an emergency request to block it. The next day, the Supreme Court filed a formal order allowing the law to take effect. This decision was an important signal that the court is likely to overturn Roe v. Wade with their ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization set to be heard next year. This decision would affect women across the country, with as many as twenty-one states poised to ban or restrict abortion if Roe v. Wade was to be overturned.

With these recent events, abortion has now, more than ever, become a topic of widespread national debate. This project sought to explore the differences in how this contentious topic is talked about and reported between mainstream news sources and social media. Do different mainstream media and print media hold different tones or show distinct air time correlated with political belief? How do users of Twitter and Reddit talk about abortion as compared with the mainstream media?