Since the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade, anti-abortion rhetoric has spread widely across right-wing Spanish-language radio and social media platforms, even as polls show that the majority of Latinos say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Such overlapping narratives on right-wing radio and social media platforms are becoming a pattern in Spanish-language media following major news cycles.

On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion after almost 50 years. Roughly half of U.S. states have since imposed or are likely to impose restrictions and, in some cases, near-total bans on abortion. Right-wing media, including Spanish-language media, have celebrated the ruling and used it to attack pro-choice advocates. 

The anti-abortion rhetoric in Spanish media often mirrored that of English-language media, suggesting that pro-choice activists are violent actors and referring to abortion rights as “eugenics.” Other popular narratives used cherry-picked, unverified, or distorted information.

Latinos have been targets of health misinformation in the past. There was a slew of COVID-19 misinformation in right-wing Spanish-language spaces, with a particular emphasis on the false narrative that the COVID-19 vaccine would cause fertility and pregnancy complications.

Despite the anti-choice narratives circulating in right-wing Spanish media, recent polling conducted by Voto Latino showed that “more than two-thirds of Latinos believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases (41% legal in all cases, 27% legal in most cases) and only 10% believe abortion should be illegal in all cases.” Another poll from Ipsos found that most Latinos strongly oppose making abortion illegal “at any time under any circumstance.”

Here are a number of examples showing the common anti-abortion rhetoric or misinformation spreading on radio and social media platforms:

Claiming that pro-choice advocates engage in violence or predicting violence from the left

• Catholic YouTuber Fernando Casanova called the left “violent and irrational” after Roe’s reversal. The online influencer said on Facebook, ”I’m fascinated with the mainstream media's ‘fair’ and ‘neutral’ coverage of the overturning of Roe vs Wade. Even so, we must remain calm. Let the people continue to see who the real violent and irrational ones are. Let’s stand firmly; no anger or profane language. ARE YOU STILL PRO-LIFE? DO YOU FEEL INTIMIDATED?” [Facebook, 6/26/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “Yo aquí, fascinado con la cobertura ‘justa’ y ‘neutral’ de nuestros principales medios de comunicación sobre la derogación de Roe v/s Wade. Aun así, debemos permanecer serenos. Que la gente siga viendo quiénes son los violentos e irracionales. Ustedes y yo, firmes; nada de ira ni palabras soeces.¿SIGUES SIENDO PRO-VIDA? ¿TE SIENTES INTIMIDADO?”

• On Facebook, evangelical social media influencer “Evangelista Gary Lee” called pro-choice protesters “criminals” and accused them of threatening Supreme Court justices. He stated, “Breaking! Breaking! PRO-ABORTION PROTESTERS BURN THE AMERICAN FLAG IN WASHINGTON. The American nation has become progressive, liberal and extremist in its socialist ideology. The United States of America where I was born, the one that I used to know, revered its flag and would never have done what these unruly criminals are doing in order to threaten the Supreme Court justices.” Lee’s Facebook page has more than 2 million followers as of publication. [Facebook, 6/25/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “ÚLTIMA HORA ÚLTIMA HORA MANIFESTANTES PRO-ABORTO QUEMAN LA BANDERA AMERICANA EN WASHINGTON. La nación americana se ha vuelto progresista, liberal y extremista en su ideología socialista. Los Estados Unidos de América donde yo nací y la cual yo conocía reverenciaba su bandera y jamás hubiera hecho lo que estos delincuentes rebeldes están haciendo y en la forma en que amenazan a los jueces de la Corte Suprema.”

• The hosts of the radio show Cada Tarde spoke with Alfonso Aguilar, the president of Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, who claimed that “pro-abortion radicals have made a call to attack” crisis pregnancy centers. Aguilar further claimed that “pro-abortion radicals” caused “an assasination attempt on a Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh.” Cada Tarde is one of the most high-profile conservative radio shows in south Florida. It has long been the subject of controversy, with hosts Carines Moncada and Agustin Acosta peddling misinformation about Black Lives Matter and COVID-19. [Actualidad Radio, Cada Tarde, 6/24/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “Hay que estar preocupados porque hay grupos radicales pro aborto que han hecho un llamado a atacar centros de cuidado a la mujer…han hecho llamado a confrontar y atacar oficinas de organizaciones pro vida. Yo espero que no haya violencia. Pero tristemente hemos visto una actitud de confrontación y de violencia de parte de grupos pro aborto y tristemente la mayoridad de los democratas no han dicho absolutamente nada. Hasta hace unas semanas tuvimos un atentado de asesinato a un juez del supremo, el juez Kavanaugh.” 

• Aguilar also stated on Perspectiva USA that the Democratic Party “is encouraging an atmosphere of confrontation.” He expressed concerns that “there are radical pro-abortion organizations, with antifa ties, who have declared they will organize violent protests.” Perspectiva USA airs on the Americano Media, a new Spanish-language conservative radio network. Aguilar has also appeared on Cada Tarde multiple times and is a mainstay on conservative radio shows. [Americano Media, Perspectiva USA, 6/24/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “Ellos están [demócratas] incentivando un ambiente de confrontación y tú sabes muy bien que hay organizaciones radicales pro-aborto, con vínculos antifaz, que han dicho que van a organizar manifestaciones violentas.” 

Applauding the decision and claiming that abortion is murder

• Anti-LGBTQ YouTuber Pablo Rosales, with nearly 500,000 followers on Facebook, likened abortion to the “murder of millions of people” in a Facebook post. He commented, “HALLELUJAH!!! INCREDIBLE!!! The murder of millions of people has just stopped. The court finally opened their eyes. Gotta fight to keep it that way.” [Facebook, 6/24/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “ALELUYA!!! ¡¡¡INCREÍBLE!!! Se acaba de detener el asesinato de millones de personas. Se le cayó la venda de los ojos a la corte. Hay que luchar por mantenerlo.”

• Freddy Silva, radio host for Entre Lineas, referred to abortion as “genocide.” Silva said that Roe was a “mistake that has led to a genocide of the unborn and millions and millions of lives.” Entre Lineas is another show on Americano Media, which broadcasts nationally on Sirius XM. Silva has previously put forward conspiracy theories on his show that paint a picture of a globalist, leftist plot to tear down American institutions, including conspiracy theories about election fraud. [Americano Media, Entre Lineas, 6/30/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “Como tú lo has mencionado muy bien, que esta decisión que se da en 1973 fue una decisión equivocada, fue una decisión errónea y por supuesto, ha llevado adelante un genocidio del no nacido, de millones y millones de vidas.”

• Silva’s guest, Franklin Camargo, equated abortion with “the right to murder the unborn.” According to Camargo, “There is no explicit right in the Constitution that indicates that women have the right to slay the unborn.” [Americano Media, Entre Lineas, 6/30/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “Básicamente estamos hablando no solo de una mentira, sino una mentira, pero tamaño mundo, porque no existe en la Constitución un derecho explícito que indique que la mujer tiene derecho a asesinar al no nacido.”

Downplaying the need for abortion or suggesting that abortions are not health care

• Javier Romero, a self-proclaimed “anti-progressive” YouTuber with 410,000 subscribers, called the pro-choice movement “capricious” and minimized the need for abortion by saying that very few are the result of rape. Romero stated, “Today there are so many methods to avoid pregnancy and even then there are major efforts in promoting abortion as if it were a sport, a capricious agenda of interests. Rape accounts for an extremely small percent [of abortions]. If I remember correctly, rapes make up less than 2% of all abortions.” This statistic ignores other critical statistics involving the livelihood or socioeconomic status of the individual, and it seems to come from a 2005 academic article called “Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions.” This percentage also likely underreports the amount of abortions that terminate a pregnancy caused by rape, given that “more than 2 out of 3” sexual assaults are not reported. Additionally, focusing on rape and incest exceptions to abortion laws ignores the issue of how to access abortion, even for these exceptions. [Twitter, 6/26/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “Tantos métodos para no embarazar ni embarazarse hoy en día y aun así el empeño es promover el aborto como si fuese un deporte, una agenda caprichosa de intereses… Las violaciones son un porcentaje extremadamente mínimo, si mal no recuerdo no llega ni al 2% del total de abortos.” 

• Ray Cruz, host of El Gallinero, peddled the narrative that abortion is not actual health care and claimed Biden is “protecting abortionist women, but not the babies.” He said that the phrase “reproductive health” is wrong in the context of the abortion debate, as abortions are “not reproductive,” and attempted to rebrand it as “abortionist health.” Cruz has put forward conspiracy theories about January 6, claiming that the Democrats fabricated a narrative on January 6 “a few months before the [midterm] elections because they know they are dead” (“Crearon una novela, casualmente, un par de meses antes de las elecciones porque saben que están muertos”). [Noticias Generación News, El Gallinero, 6/29/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “El presidente Joe Biden ya está tomando decisiones en favor de las mujeres que no pueden abortar. Dice que va a proteger a las mujeres abortistas, a los bebés no, pero a ellas si … oye los medios de prensa dejen de estar decidiendo disparates de salud reproductiva. Estamos hablando de salud abortiva. Esto no tiene que ver con salud. Esto tiene que ver con alguien que diga, sabe que no quiero un bebe.” 

• Host of Entre Nosotras Yali Núñez had a guest on her show, Jacqueline Debs, who said that abortion was a “violent act that endangers the health of the woman” and “ends innocent lives.” She stated, “It is true justice for women and indeed for women’s health. We who work in the pro-life movement know that abortion is a violent act that endangers the health of the woman, hurts the family, and of course, ends innocent lives.” Entre Nosotras is an Americano Media show on Sirius XM, which broadcasts nationally. [Americano Media, Entre Nosotras, 6/24/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “Se ha hecho verdadera justicia. Verdadera justicia para el niño por nacer. Es verdadera justicia para las mujeres y precisamente para la salud de la mujer. Los que trabajamos en el movimiento provida sabemos que el aborto es un acto violento, que perjudica la salud de la mujer, que perjudica a la familia y ciertamente acaba con una vida inocente.”

• Debs also made the argument that pregnancies resulting from rape and incest are “not that common.” The host also said that the United States is “one of the few countries in the world that allows abortions after 20 weeks,” which she describes as “a horrendous crime.” Debs is a pro-life activist with the Susan B. Anthony List, running its Miami-Dade County branch. [Americano Media, Entre Nosotras, 6/24/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “Y si cabe recordar que la situación de abortos, de embarazos no deseados, por incesto o por violación no son muy comunes. … Los Estados Unidos era uno de los pocos países en el mundo que aprobaba abortos también después de las 20 semanas, lo cual muchísimas personas, por supuesto, lo consideran un crimen horrendo.

Attacking abortion rights as “eugenics”

• Silva inaccurately claimed that abortion facilities are situated in minority areas as part of their marketing plan. She said, “If someone has any doubts, they should go look for the nearest abortion clinic and they will see that they always put it in a neighborhood of slums or this time of environment because it is their clientele, it is to whom they are doing their marketing, because bottom line, they want less poor people, less minorities.” [Americano Media, Entre Lineas, 6/24/22, translated from Spanish] 

• Original Spanish: “Si alguien tiene alguna duda, que vaya a buscar la clínica abortiva más cercana y va a ver que siempre la ponen en un barrio o del tipo de ambientes porque es su clientela, es a quienes ellos están haciendo su marketing, porque en [al fin] y al cabo, ellos quieren menos gente pobre, menos minoría.” 

• Dania Alexandrino, host of Perspectiva USA, said that “Blacks and Hispanics are the ones who are aborted the most” and that “ethnic cleansing” is taking place. Alexandrino is a radio host on SiriusXM’s Americano Media. Inflammatory statements are a regular occurrence on the show. [Americano Media, Perspectiva USA, 6/24/22, translated from Spanish]

• Original Spanish: “En otras palabras se está admitiendo, que el aborto, a quien más abortan, es a los negros y a los hispanos. O sea que, en otras palabras, el sueño de Margaret Sanger se está cumpliendo. Limpieza genética.”