---
title: Abortion Action Week, May 1-6, 1972
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abortion-action-week-1972/
description: 'A poster for a week of protests before Roe v. Wade shows marchers behind a banner reading "Women unite: abortion is our right!!" under the headline…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Abortion Action Week, May 1-6, 1972](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/abortion-action-week-1972.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/abortion-action-week-1972.jpg)

# Abortion Action Week, May 1-6, 1972

A poster for a week of protests before Roe v. Wade shows marchers behind a banner reading "Women unite: abortion is our right!!" under the headline demands "Repeal all abortion laws and restrictive contraception laws and end forced sterilization!" The banner states the movement's conclusion as a right, the key word of its framing, while the headline lists concrete legal demands. The poster is openly signed by the coalition, with its New York address and telephone number.

- **Date:** 1972
- **Period:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=cold-war)
- **Made by:** Women's National Abortion Action Coalition
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=movement)
- **Regime:** [Nixon Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=nixon-administration)
- **Leader:** [Richard Nixon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=richard-nixon)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Mobilize or secure compliance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=mobilize-comply)
- **Themes:** [Gender and suffrage](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=gender-suffrage), [Health](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=health)
- **Techniques:** [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2016648123/), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published 1972 without copyright notice; LoC rights statement: No known restrictions on publication) Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Abortion Action Week
May 1-6, 1972

Repeal all abortion laws and restrictive contraception laws and end forced sterilization!

[banners carried by marchers, partly overlapping and illegible:]
ASIAN WOMEN [illegible]
[illegible]
OUR DECISION!!
[illegible] ABORTION [illegible]
NO MORE [illegible]

WOMEN UNITE: ABORTION IS OUR RIGHT !!
WOMEN'S NATIONAL ABORTION ACTION COALITION

For More Information: WOMEN'S NATIONAL ABORTION ACTION COALITION, 150 FIFTH AVENUE, SUITE 315, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10011, 212-675-9150
```

Several hand-lettered banners and placards carried by marchers in the photo overlap or are angled away from the camera and are only partly legible at this resolution (an 'ASIAN WOMEN...' banner at far left, a round 'ABORTION' button/sign at right, a 'NO MORE...' sign); those spans are marked [illegible] rather than guessed. The large main banner text ('WOMEN UNITE: ABORTION IS OUR RIGHT !!') and the headline block are clearly legible.

[← Meany in Miami Beach with our union dues](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/plp-meany-miami-beach-union-dues-1971/) [There are but two sides in a war: she fights on the side of African freedom, Gulf finances the other: Boycott Gulf →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pan-african-liberation-committee-boycott-gulf-1972/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Trois Tetes sous l'meme bonnet (three heads under the same cap)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trois-tetes-sous-le-meme-bonnet-1789/) (1789 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- [Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) (Nov 1, 1858 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating)
- [The Great Battle of Ansong Ford: The Valor of Captain Matsuzaki](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ansong-ford-toshikata-1894/) (1894 · Glittering generalities)
- ['The Congress Cross or "Swastik"' (Pickings from the Hindi Punch, Bombay, February 1896)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hindi-punch-congress-swastik-1896/) (Feb 1896 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Un combate en el río Zapote (A Fight on the Zapote River), Blanco y Negro](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/un-combate-en-el-rio-zapote-1898/) (Jul 9, 1898 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)