Gendered Divides in Online Discussions about Reproductive Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization marked a turning point in the national debate over reproductive rights. While the ideological divide over abortion is well documented, less is known about how gender and local sociopolitical contexts interact to shape public discourse. Drawing on nearly 10 million abortion-related posts on X (formerly T witter) from users with inferred gender, ideology and location, we show that gender significantly moderates abortion attitudes and emotional expression, particularly in conservative regions, and independently of ideology. This creates a gender gap in abortion attitudes that grows more pronounced in conservative regions. The leak of the Dobbs draft opinion further intensified online engagement, disproportionately mobilizing pro-abortion women in areas where access was under threat. These findings reveal that abortion discourse is not only ideologically polarized but also deeply structured by gender and place, highlighting the central the role of identity in shaping political expression during moments of institutional disruption. 1 Long a flashpoint in cultural and political battles, abortion debates have come to symbolize broader struggles over bodily autonomy, religious freedom, and gender equality. The 2022 Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned nearly five decades of federal protections for abortion access established by Roe v. Wade, marked a seismic shift. It not only intensified existing partisan divides ( 1, 2), but also reshaped the legal and political terrain, triggering abrupt policy reversals in many states and catalyzing a realignment in the national debate over reproductive rights. A growing body of research has documented partisan cleavages in public attitudes toward reproductive rights ( 1, 3-7). However, less attention has been paid to the way in which gender and sociopolitical environment jointly shape both opinion formation and patterns of public expression. Recent surveys point to a widening gender gap in political orientation, particularly among younger voters. For example, in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, white men predominantly supported President Trump, while white women preferred Vice President Harris ( 8). Similarly, Gallup polling found a sharp increase in the share of young women identifying as politically liberal and supporting reproductive rights ( 9). While women consistently report higher support for abortion access, particularly in countries with less restrictive policy environments ( 10, 11), men, even those who identify as pro-choice, often show less engagement with the issue ( 11-13). Prior work has also documented gendered modes of engagement in online discourse around reproductive rights ( 1, 2).