Covering Roe v. Wade’s Overturn on Instagram

After the Supreme Court released its opinion announcing the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Missouri
immediately enacted its trigger ban, banning nearly all abortions in the state except for medical
emergencies. As an audience intern for the Kansas City Star, I helped the team create comprehensive coverage on Instagram to combat misinformation we were seeing about the new law online.

Breaking News Coverage

In the immediate aftermath of the ban, we prepped and posted informational graphics about the enaction of the ban, which were up within minutes of the new law. The graphic announcing the ban generated the Star’s highest social engagement in all of June.

I scripted and shot an Instagram Reel with a fellow intern to explain the trigger law and address misinformation we were seeing online. This reel reached 79,211 accounts and was our second-highest viewed and liked Reel during my internship.

I also created a swipe graphic answering comparable questions as this Reel to reach as many readers as possible and ensure we were answering the questions of our audience.

Finally, I shared past and current posts to our Instagram Stories. It was important to put information on
Instagram Stories, as many users check their stories for information before scrolling through their feed, if
they scroll at all. I created a graphic to share on our story with a sticker for readers to ask questions about the ruling. The sticker was used to gather questions for future stories to explain the ban and to further build trust with our audience.

Combatting misinformation in the aftermath

While our initial coverage was focused on explaining the trigger law, we quickly saw misinformation spreading about the abortion ban. There were concerns that the abortion ban would limit access to emergency contraceptives like Plan B and IUDs. We quickly created an Instagram Reel to address the misinformation based on the Star’s reporting. This video was created in Adobe Premiere.