Abortion: why is the hanger a symbol of pro-abortion?

While the Supreme Court of the United States last Friday allowed American states to ban voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion), the symbol of the hanger is reappearing in the pro-choice camp.

The possibility of banning abortion in the United States brings back the dark symbol of the clothes hanger in the camp of those who campaign for women to have the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

The choice of a hanger as an emblem is very symbolic since when abortion was prohibited, it was this object that was most often used, along with knitting needles, to terminate a pregnancy.

Symbol of clandestine abortion, of the danger incurred by women forced into this kind of practice, the hanger has always been the rallying sign of pro-abortion activists and the emblem of the fight for the right to legal abortion.

This is not a hanger

A daily object that was hijacked by angel makers in order to perform illegal abortions, the coat hanger is dangerous.

Abortions performed with a coat hanger or any other unsuitable object can lead to numerous consequences, such as haemorrhages, infections, damage to the reproductive system or even perforation of the uterus. These complications can lead to the death of the woman.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated in November 2021 at 45% the share of unsafe abortions worldwide.

In 2016, the French Family Planning launched the campaign “Ceci n’est pas un hanger” to raise awareness of the dangers of clandestine abortions, which according to figures at the time lead to the death of 47,000 women each year around the world.