The recent overturn of Roe v. Wade makes it more important than ever to document the needs of abortion seekers and to help meet those needs through a variety of human service sectors—including the social work field.
A recent CORE publication in the journal Social Work uses Reddit data to explore the needs expressed by users of the widely used and anonymous website as they navigate their own abortion seeking and abortion experiences. The investigators identified three categories of needs.
First, many users had turned to Reddit to find abortion-related information—what the physical experience would be like, the logistics involved in obtaining one, and their potential options around self-managed abortion might include.
Second, others came to Reddit looking for emotional support or advice, often expressing wide-ranging and sometimes contradictory emotions. Abortion seekers were looking for spaces to discuss these nuanced feelings.
Third, Reddit often functioned as a supportive community for those looking to share their abortion stories and questions. People reported benefits from receiving and contributing advice and support.
Social workers, who can be highly skilled care coordinators, interact often with the types of individuals and communities most in need of abortion services. Social workers are in an excellent position to help meet their clients’ abortion-related needs, including by providing information, emotional support, or group spaces where abortion seekers can assist one another.
Research documents the many negative effects that being denied a wanted abortion has on people’s life trajectories, including financial hardship and emotional distress. As abortion becomes criminalized in dozens of U.S. states, more people will need skilled care coordination to help them access wanted abortions, and more people will need the emotional and social support that social workers are trained to provide.
The article, authored by Madison Lands, Emma Carpenter, Taryn Valley, Laura Jacques, and Jenny Higgins, makes the case that in a post-Roe America, social workers can make a positive impact by providing support for people who are considering and experiencing abortion care.
CORE research has previously used Reddit data to learn about approaches to decision-making related to abortion.
Read the new article in Social Work here.