Medieval-themed protest for abortion rights held at SXSW
Pro-Abortion groups set out to get tech companies to loosen their policies about abortion-related content.
A group of activists protested the restriction of abortion information on social media platforms at the influential SXSW festival in Texas.
It was put on by the Repro Uncensored collective, which includes the organizations of PLAN C, EFF, Fight For The Future, and the Latina Institute. The theme was a Cavalry of Repro Renaissance—a motley crew of knights on horseback, a “Ye Olde Uterus Herald,” and a cast of medieval peasants—who took to the streets, declaring, “Since we are silenced on tech platforms and all traditional advertising outlets, we’re communicating ‘ye olde school’ with the town crier and the king’s guard!”
Martha Dimitratou, co-founder of Repro Uncensored and a PLAN C Digital Strategist, spoke to me about the concept they hope to take elsewhere.
“If we're if we're going back to the Dark Ages, because information is getting censored and technology is not allowing us to spread accurate healthcare information, then we would do it the old-fashioned way,” Dimatratou said.
It was part of a broader campaign to call out tech platforms and digital advertisers for suppressing life-saving healthcare information. Organizations and advocates providing medically accurate details about abortion care are consistently de-platformed, shadowbanned, or outright silenced.
According to a 2022 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, results indicated that 58.5% of adults had used the Internet in the past 12 months to look for health or medical information. Women (63.3%) were more likely than men (53.5%) to have used the Internet to look for health or medical information.
Google has not allowed Plan C to run ads in the last two years. Their ad account was taken down with Meta, which includes Facebook and Instagram, for two years. They recently got that back. But they’re still not allowed to run ads on TikTok. Through their partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), they launched the Report an Incident function to document and fight back against this suppression. If an organization or community has faced censorship, they can submit their experience at www.reprouncensored.org/report-incident..
Dimatratou said that they’re living in a time when crucial, life-saving information about abortion care is being censored and weaponized to criminalize the very people seeking care.
“This is a systematic crisis across Big Tech platforms that threatens our fundamental right to know and to share accurate health information,” she said. “If Big Tech won’t allow us to speak online, we’ll take to the streets, in full Renaissance armor if we have to, to make sure people know their rights and options. We are coming together to call out Big Tech — because when abortion information is silenced, it’s not just about speech, it’s about control over our bodies and our lives."