Stand up for the facts!
Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.
I would like to contribute
Photo of woman holding sign about her daughter and abortion rights was digitally manipulated
If Your Time is short
-
The photo was manipulated. A photograph posted in March 2023 shows that the woman’s sign said, "I’m the mother of the girl you’ll never touch," in Spanish.
Social media users reacted strongly to a photo showing a woman standing with a young girl and holding a sign that said, "I want my daughter to have the right to abortion that I didn’t have."
"Someday your daughter is going to find this picture and despise you," one commenter wrote on Instagram.
But the photo was digitally altered.
The photo of the pro-abortion sign shared Nov. 20 and after drew millions of views on Instagram, X and TikTok.
Screenshot from Instagram
Sign up for PolitiFact texts
The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)
The sign’s message was edited. We found an earlier version of the photo with a different message on the sign. In a photo published March 24, 2023, on a Mexican feminist and anticapitalist website, the woman’s sign read, "Soy mamá de la niña que jamás vas a tocar," or "I’m the mother of a girl you’ll never touch."
Featured Fact-check
According to the website, the photograph was taken during a feminist march March 8, 2023, in Monterrey, Mexico. The message in the fabricated version is in type font; the message in the Spanish version is handwritten.
We found manipulated images of the sign in Spanish before the English version started trending. The image was shared on Instagram, Facebook and X in early November with the same fabricated pro-abortion message in Spanish: "Quiero que mi hija tenga el derecho a abortar que yo no tuve."
We rate the claim that a woman held a sign that said, "I want my daughter to have the right to abortion that I didn’t have," False.
Our Sources
Instagram post (archived), Nov. 21, 2024
X post (archived), Nov. 20, 2024
TikTok post (archived), Nov. 20, 2024
La casa de todas y todos, Las mujeres regias en la lucha feminista y anticapitalista, March 24, 2023
Instagram post (archived), Nov. 4, 2024
Facebook post (archived), Nov. 6, 2024
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Sofia Ahmed
Photo of woman holding sign about her daughter and abortion rights was digitally manipulated
Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.