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The You Know Me movement is a 2019 movement by abortion rights advocates in the United States to fight
abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
stigma. A similar campaign and movement from 2015 is called #ShoutYourAbortion. The You Know Me movement is a response to the successful 2019 passage of six-week abortion bans in five
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
s, most notably the passing of anti-abortion laws in
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
( House Bill 381),
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-
-
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
( House Bill 68), and
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
( House Bill 314).


Background and origin


1970–2014

While 2015 is acknowledged as the start of #ShoutYourAbortion and 2019 as the start of #YouKnowMe, the efforts of Sue Perlgut and other second-wave feminists who suggested that women disclose their abortions publicly provides historic precedent from the 1970s. In 1971 in France, 343 filmmakers, writers, actresses, singers and philosophers confessed their illegal abortions publicly, in order to demand freedom to have an abortion, in the '
Manifesto of the 343 The Manifesto of the 343 Women () is a French petition penned by Simone de Beauvoir, and signed by 343 women, all publicly declaring that they had had an illegal abortion. The manifesto was published under the title, "" (), on 5 April 1971, in iss ...
', published by the magazine ''Nouvel Observateur''. In 1973, the manifesto was the inspiration for a 1973 manifesto by 331 doctors declaring their support for abortion rights. Within less than four years of the manifesto's publication, the French Health Minister
Simone Veil Simone Veil (; ; 13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017) was a French magistrate, Holocaust survivor, and politician who served as health minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman t ...
presented a law on 26 November 1974 to the National Assembly that would legalize abortion. France legalized abortion in Law 75-17 of 18 January 1975, which permitted a woman to receive an abortion on request until the tenth week of
pregnancy Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...
. After a trial period, Law 75-17 was adopted permanently in December 1979. Since 1990,
Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ...
(1991),
Lil' Kim Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1974), Those giving 1974 include: * * * * * better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper. She was born and raised in New York City and lived much of her adolescent life on the streets after ...
(2000),
Sharon Osbourne Sharon Rachel Osbourne (; born 9 October 1952) is an English-American television personality, music manager, and author. She is married to heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and came to prominence while appearing on '' The Osbournes'' (2002–2 ...
(2004),
Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Awards, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emm ...
(2010), Chelsea Handler (2012), Sherri Shepherd (2012),
Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...
(2014), and
Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...
(2015) are some notable women in the public eye who discussed their abortions in order to help end stigma.


2015: #ShoutYourAbortion

In the wake of the House of Representatives' vote to defund
Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization
, Lindy West, Amelia Bonow and Kimberly Morrison launched # ShoutYourAbortion to "remind supporters and critics alike abortion is a legal right to anyone who wants or needs it". The women encouraged other women to share positive abortion experiences online using the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion in order to "denounce the stigma surrounding abortion".


2019 build-up to the You Know Me movement

On 18 February 2019, the singer Amanda Palmer released a single about abortion, "Voicemail for Jill", on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. Palmer had previously spoken out about her abortions in 2015. On 1 March 2019, the artist and activist Rose McGowan spoke out about her abortion and asked for a public debate about abortion using the hashtag #HonestAbortion, in a reply to a tweet that stated, "1 in 4 women has an abortion by age 45. 60% are already mothers." On 7 May 2019, the actress Busy Philipps spoke about her own abortion in her talkshow '' Busy Tonight'': ::"The statistic is 1 in 4 women will have an abortion before age 45, and that statistic sometimes surprises people, and maybe you're sitting there thinking: I don't know a woman who had an abortion. Well, you know me. I had an abortion when I was fifteen years old."


#YouKnowMe

On 15 May 2019, the actress Busy Philipps encouraged women on Twitter to share their
abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
stories, in the wake of the proposed
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
abortion ban. Phillips said she was encouraged to share the hashtag by
Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. Known for her comedic roles in sketch comedy, television and film, Fey has received List of awards and nominations received by Tina Fe ...
, as it "makes it very personal". As a result of Philipps' tweet, women both in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
as well as outside, replied with their abortion stories, many of them using the hashtag #youknowme on social media. Within 24 hours, nearly 50,000 people had liked or shared Philipps' tweet, and almost 2,000 users had replied to it. Notably, the actresses
Jameela Jamil Jameela Alia Jamil (born 25 February 1986) is an English actress, activist and presenter. She began her career on Channel 4, where she hosted a pop culture series in the ''T4 (Channel 4), T4'' strand from 2009 until 2012. She then became the ra ...
,
Rosanna Arquette Rosanna Lisa Arquette (; born August 10, 1959) is an American actress. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film '' The Executioner's Song'' (1982) and won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for th ...
and
Ashley Judd Ashley Tyler Ciminella, known professionally as Ashley Judd (born April 19, 1968), is an American actress and activist. She grew up in a family of performing artists, the daughter of country music singer Naomi Judd and the half-sister of country ...
used the #youknowme hashtag. Women in the public eye who shared abortion stories after Philipps' tweet include the activist Nelini Stamp and the actresses
Cynthia Nixon Cynthia Ellen Nixon (born April 9, 1966) is an American actress, activist, and theater director. For her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supportin ...
, Keke Palmer, and
Rosanna Arquette Rosanna Lisa Arquette (; born August 10, 1959) is an American actress. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film '' The Executioner's Song'' (1982) and won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for th ...
. On Tuesday, 22 May 2019, thousands of people across the US marched in
abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their p ...
'#StopTheBans' protests against the 2019 wave of anti-abortion legislation in some states in America. Several politicians, including
Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former naval officer who served as the 19th United States Secretary of Transportation, United States secretary of transportation from 2021 to 2025. A me ...
,
Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member o ...
,
Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York since 2009 ...
and
Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New Jersey, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of the Democ ...
, participated in these demonstrations. California Rep. Jackie Speier spoke about her abortion at a protest in
Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
, while referring to the You Know Me movement's phrase: :You know me, I am one of the 1 in 4 women who has had an abortion in this country. ... I am not ashamed. On May 23, 2019, the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...
launched an advertising campaign narrated by Busy Philipps, which featured the #YouKnowMe hashtag and encouraged people to speak out against abortion bans. On June 4, 2019, Busy Philipps testified before the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
in support of abortion rights and against abortion restrictions.


International response

"You Know Me" has been identified and referred to as a viral social media campaign and movement. The movement has gained international media coverage outside the US, for instance in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
. Lisa Bouyeure, a columnist for the Dutch newspaper ''
De Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...
'', wrote about the May 2019
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
abortion ban in her column and how the events reminded her of the TV show ''
The Handmaid's Tale ''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which has ...
''. She noted that #YouKnowMe is "a start, such a warm wave of solidarity in an ice-cold conservative climate, but let's hope that it will really change something. You grant every baby to be born at a time when The Handmaid's Tale is fiction again." Mare Hotterbeekx, a journalist for the Belgium magazine '' Knacks weekend edition, stated that the hashtag #YouKnowMe causing women to massively share their abortion stories was "an openness that Belgian women can only dream of". Kathy Michaels, a journalist for InfoTel Canada, started her opinion article on the #YouKnowMe movement with the question "Have you had an abortion?". She continued stating "don't say because I don't care and neither should anyone else. #YouKnowMe movement or not, it's no more anyone's business if you terminated a pregnancy than it is if your significant other has a low sperm count or if you're having a series of particularly unpleasant periods that require a visit to your GP." Michaels remarked further that people in her social network had started posting articles from the US "lamenting the backward momentum south of the border and expressing fear that a cultural black hole is going to suck us all in". She finished with the statement, "The good news is that this is happening in an election year so those of you who care can start doing the work needed to ensure your needs and interests are best represented when and if the time comes to raise this issue again. Until then, #YouDontNeedToKnowMe. We're Canadian and that means something when it comes to bodily autonomy." Kari Postma and Robin Smeets of Dance4Life addressed the #YouKnowMe hashtag in an opinion article in Dutch newspaper ''
Trouw ''Trouw'' (; ) is a Dutch daily newspaper appearing in compact size. It was founded in 1943 as an orthodox Protestant underground newspaper during World War II. Since 2009, it has been owned by DPG Media (known as De Persgroep until 2019). '' ...
''. Postma and Smeets voiced their concerns about the 2019
anti-abortion movements Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the leg ...
in America, remarking that "the growth of the anti-abortion lobby ensures that girls and women who terminate a pregnancy are stigmatized and hardly talk about it" which they considered "a worrying development". They wrote that abortion is an "important acquired right in the Netherlands" and given that "the right to abortion is under international fire", people in the Netherlands should make a "clear pro-choice sound in the Netherlands". Postma and Smeets stated that safe environments for women should be created so they "dare to tell about their decision, whether or not via #YouKnowMe" and that "It is up to all of us not to condemn but to respect women who exercise their freedom of choice". Vanja Deželić, a journalist for Vijesti.hr, compared the #YouKnowMe movement to the Croatian #Spasime movement (), which started in March 2019 and aims to collect testimonies about domestic abuse and to fight domestic violence in
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
. Deželić wrote that anti-abortion movements had become more active in Croatia and were aiming for similar law changes such as the 2019 six-week abortion ban that passed in Alabama. Deželić stated that resistance against these anti-abortion movements could happen in Croatia based on the #YouKnowMe movement and thanks to Busy Philipps.


Criticism

Arwa Mahdawi, a columnist for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', wrote that "while #YouKnowMe is powerful, it's also profoundly depressing" and that women should not have to tell abortion stories to remind lawmakers that they are human. Meghan Flaherty, a writer for ''
The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...
'', wrote that she felt "deeply humbled and heartened" by the #YouKnowMe stories she read, but also noted many women used the hashtag to explain their reasons for abortion, which she found "problematic". Flaherty wrote that "personal reproductive health decision-making power and the tools to implement those decisions are fundamental human rights. No woman or man should have to justify the decisions they make about their own body and parenthood." Madeline Fry, a commentary writer for '' The Washington Examiner'', argued that the "heartbreaking" stories within the #YouKnowMe hashtag "didn't justify the pro-abortion cause", remarking however that the movement was "less shameless" than "#ShoutYourAbortion, the repulsive no-regrets movement".


See also

*
Abortion in the United States by state The legality of abortion in the United States and the various restrictions imposed on the procedure vary significantly, depending on the laws of each state or other jurisdiction, although there is no uniform federal law. Some states prohibit ab ...
*
Hashtag activism Hashtag activism refers to the use of social media hashtags for Internet activism. The hashtag has become one of the many ways that social media contributes to civic engagement and social movements. The use of the hashtag on social media provides ...
*
Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement and Consciousness raising, awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture, in which women publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was init ...
*
Rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
* List of songs about abortion *
Manifesto of the 343 The Manifesto of the 343 Women () is a French petition penned by Simone de Beauvoir, and signed by 343 women, all publicly declaring that they had had an illegal abortion. The manifesto was published under the title, "" (), on 5 April 1971, in iss ...
* Spasime movement * Ele Não movement


References

{{Portal bar, Feminism, Human sexuality, Internet, Society Internet-based activism Social media campaigns 21st-century social movements 2019 in Internet culture Feminist movements and ideologies Feminism in the United States Hashtags American political catchphrases 2019 in women's history