TikTok Activists Are Fighting Back Against the Extreme Texas Abortion Law
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Just days after Texas passed the nation's most restrictive abortion ban — criminalizing abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy among the threat of a lawsuit against anyone who assists — TikTok users are taking a stand against the state's extreme new law. (Related: How Late In Pregnancy Can You Have An Abortion?)
The law in question, Senate Bill 8, took effect Wednesday, prohibiting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. This is problematic for countless reasons but one glaring issue is that at six weeks gestation, many people don't even know they're expecting. In fact, for those with a normal, consistent menstrual cycle (with periods that occur every 21 to 35 days), a six-week gestational timeframe could be as early as two weeks after a missed period, something that could go easily go unnoticed, according to Planned Parenthood. This act also enables private citizens to sue those aiding the procedure (i.e. health care workers) or anyone funding the abortion. As President Joe Biden noted Thursday in a statement, this can be "a friend who drives her to a hospital or clinic." The anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life has also set up a space online that allows people to submit anonymous tips for potential violators of the SB8 law.
And that is where the powers of TikTok have come into the conversation.
In the wake of Texas's new law and subsequent outcry of women everywhere, TikTok activists have reportedly flooded the tip site with false reports and fabricated accounts. For example, TikTok user @travelingnurse uploaded a video Thursday with the message, "Me, submitting 742 fake reports of Gov Abbott [Texas Governor Greg Abbott] getting ab*rtions to flood the Ab*rtion reporting website." The video's caption also read, "It would be a shame if TikTok crashed the prolifewhistleblower.com website. Real shame." (Related: Why This Senator's Abortion Story Is So Important In the Fight for Reproductive health Care)
Fellow TikToker Sean Black (@black_madness21) also created a script (aka computer coding) that somehow spams the "whistleblower" website, according to Vice. "To me, the McCarthyism era tactics of turning neighbors against each other over a bill I feel is a violation of Roe V Wade is unacceptable," said Black in an email to the outlet. "There are people on TikTok using their platform to educate and do their part. I believe this is me doing mine." Another user also appeared to spam the site with memes of the cartoon character Shrek.
This isn't the first time users on the platform came together to take a stand about political issues. This collective social media effort isn't all too far off from a June 2020 event in which TikTok users targeted a campaign rally for then-president Donald Trump, encouraging fans to reserve tickets but not use them so he'd be speaking to a largely empty room. Twitter user Diana Mejia cheekily posted to her page at the time, "Oh no! I just reserved my tickets for 45's rally on JUNETEENTH in TULSA and completely forgot that I have to mop my windows that day! now my seats will be EMPTY! I hope that everyone who sees this doesn't make the same mistake I did! We want to see all 19,000 seats full!" Only 6,200 people attended Trump's rally in the 19,000-seat arena, according to NBC News.
Since the Texas abortion law took effect earlier this week, both citizens and celebrities have expressed outrage. Biden called the ban in Thursday's statement "an unprecedented assault on a woman's constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade." Biden added in his statement that he is looking to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice "to see what steps the Federal Government can take to ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions." (Related: Joe Biden Used the Word 'Abortion' For the First Time As President In Response to Texas Law)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also announced Thursday that the House will vote on legislation to codify Roe v. Wade. Basically, "codifying Roe v. Wade would take the question of safe and legal abortion out of the Supreme Court's hands by passing legislation in Congress that guarantees women in every state the right to unfettered access to abortion care," according to The Cut. Codifying would essentially protect the right to choose even in the event that Roe v. Wade is overturned, according to the site.
"SB8 delivers catastrophe to women in Texas, particularly women of color and women from low-income communities," said Pelosi in Thursday's statement. "Every woman everywhere has the constitutional right to basic health care. SB8 is the most extreme, dangerous abortion ban in half a century, and its purpose is to destroy Roe v. Wade, and even refuses to make exceptions for cases of rape and incest."
Pelosi added that the Texas abortion law creates "a vigilante bounty system that will have a chilling effect on the provision of any reproductive health care services."
As of Friday, Planned Parenthood's Gulf Coast region notes on its website that it can help those in need find out-of-state care and financial assistance.
