Photo: TikTok
Keep your laws off women's bodies.
By Kurtis Condra — Written on May 13, 2022
TikTokers are using a new viral trend to illustrate the many horrific circumstances that cause people to need an abortion in order to protest nationwide anti-choice campaigns.
Trigger warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault.
The movement comes after Politico leaked documents that could overturn Roe V. Wade, the landmark ruling that legalized abortion in 1973.
The leaked draft has spurred protests across the United States, with people taking to the streets and social media to voice their outcry over the possible overturning of Roe V. Wade.
What is the "Keep Your Off My Body" TikTok Trend?
TikTok users are taking the song "Vent" by rapper Baby Keem to recount their abortion stories.
The sound, which has been used in over 23,000 videos on the app, is allowing users to demonstrate just how personal a woman's right to choose is and shows that people opt for abortion as a last resort in many case.
Each video tells a story as the song plays in the background with the final image of the user putting their phone to the ground and then pretending to smash it with a caption saying "Keep your laws off my body."
"Have you ever been held down while your partner took off their c0ndom and laughed bc 'ur on BC calm down'?" one TikToker asks in her video.
Many people on TikTok's comment section have expressed sympathy, shared stories of sexual assault, and much more. But it is not just SA that users are recounting.
Another TikToker named Chelsey shares that her baby tragically passed away shortly after birth due to health complications.
"Have you ever held your child as they gasped for air, watching them quite literally suffer to death?"
Why is the "Laws Off my Body" trend so important?
Across the US, many states are lining up with trigger laws that can ban abortion if Roe V. Wade is overturned, most of these states are situated in the Midwest and Southern part of the US.
The state of Illinois is preparing for the possibility of an influx of individuals seeking an abortion because the Reproductive Health Act of Illinois gives a person the fundamental right to make individual decisions about their reproductive health.
As protests continue around the United States, TikTokers are recounting their experiences to show that many women, in a whole range of circumstances, need safe abortions.
Laws can only ban safe abortion.
The trend points out that these circumstances will still occur with or without legalized abortion.
Research shows that some countries with the most restrictive abortion laws have higher abortion rates than countries where abortion is legal, according to a study by the Guttmacher Institute.
Without accessible, safe abortions, women will need to travel further out of state to get the help they need or make even more dangerous decisions about their health.
If women are denied abortion rights, their health can be put at serious risk. The University of California - San Francisco published an article about the harmful denial of turning women away from an abortion.
There are many individuals noting how serious this issue is and why safe abortion is needed, it is.
One TikToker asked "Have you ever been SA'd by your husband?" with one commentor posting, "Yes, and when I was testifying in court his attorney said it wasn't SA bc we were married."
People should not need to go through the trauma they have endured long ago, but now here we are in a world where women's rights come under fire when they can't be given the decision they want to make. It is their body and their choice, why should someone else have control over that?
Kurtis Condra is a writer focused on Entertainment and News that is breaking and needs to be covered.