Examination of the Public’s Reaction on Twitter to the Over-Turning of Roe v Wade and Abortion Bans

Abstract

The overturning of Roe v Wade reinvigorated the national debate on abortion. We used Twitter data to examine temporal, geographical and sentiment patterns in the public’s reaction. Using the Twitter API for Academic Research, a random sample of publicly available tweets was collected from 1 May–15 July in 2021 and 2022. Tweets were filtered based on keywords relating to Roe v Wade and abortion (227,161 tweets in 2021 and 504,803 tweets in 2022). These tweets were tagged for sentiment, tracked by state, and indexed over time. Time plots reveal low levels of conversations on these topics until the leaked Supreme Court opinion in early May 2022. Unlike pro-choice tweets which declined, pro-life conversations continued with renewed interest throughout May and increased again following the official overturning of Roe v Wade. Conversations were less prevalent in some these states had abortion trigger laws (Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi). Collapsing across topic categories, 2022 tweets were more negative and less neutral and positive compared to 2021 tweets. In network analysis, tweets mentioning woman/women, supreme court, and abortion spread faster and reached to more Twitter users than those mentioning Roe Wade and Scotus. Twitter data can provide real-time insights into the experiences and perceptions of people across the United States, which can be used to inform healthcare policies and decision-making.

Implications of Dobbs v. Jackson for patients and providers: a scoping review

“…25 By conducting sentiment analysis on tweets related to abortion and reproductive healthcare, they observed a growing polarization after Dobbs, in line with their expectations. 25 Contrary to their expectations, this polarization was driven by a small (0.17 p.p.) increase in the proportion of overall negative/unfavorable tweets towards abortion and Roe v. Wade, as well as a modest (4.71 p.p.)…”

“…decrease in positive/favorable tweets. 25 These changes were most pronounced for tweets about "Roe v. Wade", for which there was a 10.8 p.p. increase and 5.63 p.p.…”

“…decrease in negative and positive tweets, respectively. 25 Pro-life tweets typically centered around personal religious belief or support for conservative policies extending pro-life movements. 25 In contrast, pro-choice tweets typically expressed anger and dismay with the Dobbs decision, highlighted the need for abortion, demonstrated fear over losing access to contraception after Dobbs, and perceived Dobbs as violating fundamental human rights for people capable of pregnancy.…”

Effect of Recent Abortion Legislation on Twitter User Engagement, Sentiment, and Expressions of Trust in Clinicians and Privacy of Health Information: Content Analysis

“…A study by Mane et al [ 31 ] similarly assessed the public’s reaction on Twitter following Dobbs and found a global increase in conversation about Roe v Wade and abortion-related topics. In contrast to our study, Mane et al [ 31 ] stratified tweets as “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice,” revealing an increase in Pro-Life tweets that persisted longer than Pro-Choice tweets, although there was more negative sentiment overall following the Dobbs decision.…”

“…A study by Mane et al [ 31 ] similarly assessed the public’s reaction on Twitter following Dobbs and found a global increase in conversation about Roe v Wade and abortion-related topics. In contrast to our study, Mane et al [ 31 ] stratified tweets as “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice,” revealing an increase in Pro-Life tweets that persisted longer than Pro-Choice tweets, although there was more negative sentiment overall following the Dobbs decision. We replicate and expand on many of Mane et al’s [ 31 ] findings, including the increase in Twitter activity discussing abortion surrounding the time of the Dobbs decision leak and demonstrate this link through our posterior distribution analysis.…”