Abortion Action Week, May 1-6, 1972, 1972 US poster: A poster for a week of protests before Roe v

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.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Date
1972
Period
Cold War
Made by
Women's National Abortion Action Coalition

Full record

Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Source, Rights
Region
North America
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
Movement
Regime
Nixon Administration
Leader
Richard Nixon
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes
Gender and suffrage, Health
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
Library of Congress, 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

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.