In today’s media environment, the internet is often the first source the public turns to for information and perspectives on abortion. This information, found in multimedia formats, is shared by a variety of sources and accessed through diverse platforms. Despite the obvious importance of the web as an information source, evaluating the presence of abortion on the web is difficult due to the volume and dispersion.
We propose to comprehensively and rigorously evaluate the web ecology of abortion including mapping the network of websites that underpin it and synthesizing the multimedia content found on the web. We will also conduct a prospective observational study to understand how women navigate the web for abortion information. We will focus on three key areas where evidence and public discourse do not align: safety of abortion, mental health effects of abortion, and abortion as a cause of infertility.
Our team, who collaborated under Phase 1 to develop methods to systematically evaluate the abortion web ecology, includes a Family Planning Fellowship-trained gynecologist, a reproductive health services researcher, a digital media researcher and a media studies scholar. As billboards have given way to banner ads, interventions to disseminate evidence-based health information must meet the public in the digital spaces where they spend time. Findings from this study will launch a program of research focused on developing and testing digital and web-based interventions. Our long-term goal is to produce evidence-based digital material to improve public knowledge and shift public opinion on abortion.