Watching the fall of Roe v. Wade: Media exposure relates to U.S. women's alcohol use intentions.

Abstract

Objective: The Supreme Court of the United States' decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in June 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade and ended federal protection of abortion rights. Given the drastic policy changes as a result of the ruling and high exposure to media related to abortion, women opposed to the decision may have experienced distress, which could trigger maladaptive coping strategies, such as alcohol use. The present research examined how consuming abortion-related media in the weeks following the Dobbs decision impacted alcohol use intentions among women of reproductive age residing in the 13 "trigger law" states that immediately restricted abortion access.

Method: A sample of 196 women (M_age = 30.52, SD = 6.9) residing in trigger law states answered questions about abortion-related media consumption, views toward the Dobbs ruling, negative affect, and alcohol use intentions.

Results: Consuming more abortion-related media predicted higher alcohol use intentions for women who opposed the ruling, but not those who were in favor of abortion restrictions.

Conclusions: This timely study provides evidence of how the Dobbs ruling is associated with health ramifications beyond reproduction, yielding insights about how high media exposure to large-scale, distressing events may put those most affected-women of reproductive age in states that enacted new policies restricting abortion access-at risk for alcohol use. Findings highlight an imperative direction for future research as abortion restrictions continue to be spotlighted in U.S. media and state legislatures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).