New Media and Gender: Representation of Reproductive Justice in Indonesian Websites (konde.co and magdalene.co)

Abstract

Reproductive justice is an important issue, but until recently it is still such a utopia. This can be fulfilled if reproductive rights can be obtained by everyone, especially women. In fact, the majority of victims of reproductive injustice are women. In Indonesia this issue is also still a problem that has not been solved. Based on a report from the Center for Reproductive Rights of UNFPA, reproductive rights relate to the right to education and information about reproductive health. Furthermore, according to UN documents, reproductive rights in the context of reproductive health services are related to abortion, which includes information, education, communication and services, including prevention of abortion and the management of the consequences of abortion. The purpose of this research is to reveal how Indonesian websites represent abortion as an aspect of reproductive health and how women be portrayed in the websites as an alternative media. By analyzing media content on the konde.co and magdalene.co websites in 2022, this study concluded: (1) representation of reproductive justice in konde.co and magdalene.co that focus on abortion are in the form of soft news which provide more explanation and elaboration on the issue; (2) safe abortion and forced abortion dominate the content of the websites, with the focus on the limitation of the practical aspect although several laws already existed; (3) women are represented as group of people that are vulnerable and need to be protected.

Keywords:Reproductive justice, reproductive rights, abortion, representation, media content.

https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2025-4104-24