Coverage of reproductive rights features almost no reproductive health experts

On cable news, coverage of the Texas abortion restrictions has been light on medical experts. Via Media Matters: texas-whole

texas-networks

I think there’s something to be said for including political commentators in conversations about an issue that is so clearly political. I’m also grateful when advocates for reproductive justice are given a place at the table, since, again, this is a justice issue and not just a medical one. But I also want doctors, and public health experts – people who can explain why abortion bans are medically harmful and why forced vaginal ultrasounds are medically unnecessary. The more viewers know about that stuff, the better they can understand the politics of the situation. But based on these graphs, it looks like coverage of these issues is falling into the very same trap as the lawmakers themselves: a whole bunch of people who aren’t doctors sitting around talking about reproductive health.

New York, NY

Chloe Angyal is a journalist and scholar of popular culture from Sydney, Australia. She joined the Feministing team in 2009. Her writing about politics and popular culture has been published in The Atlantic, The Guardian, New York magazine, Reuters, The LA Times and many other outlets in the US, Australia, UK, and France. She makes regular appearances on radio and television in the US and Australia. She has an AB in Sociology from Princeton University and a PhD in Arts and Media from the University of New South Wales. Her academic work focuses on Hollywood romantic comedies; her doctoral thesis was about how the genre depicts gender, sex, and power, and grew out of a series she wrote for Feministing, the Feministing Rom Com Review. Chloe is a Senior Facilitator at The OpEd Project and a Senior Advisor to The Harry Potter Alliance. You can read more of her writing at chloesangyal.com

Chloe Angyal is a journalist and scholar of popular culture from Sydney, Australia.

Read more about Chloe

Join the Conversation