Popular dating app Tinder has partnered with the nation’s #1 abortion chain and a clothing brand to launch a tee promoting abortion.
Planned Parenthood and Area, a clothing brand, along with Tinder, debuted a t-shirt during a fashion show at New York Fashion Week, where three Planned Parenthood activists were given prestigious front-row seats.
The “Bans Off Our Bodies” shirt is a plain black t-shirt, except for two red hands appearing to reach down into the wearer’s waistband. Tinder’s flame logo appears on the chest of the shirt.
Screenshot: Area.nyc
Melissa Hobley, the Chief Marketing Officer for Tinder, spoke to Teen Vogue about why they decided to move forward with being openly pro-abortion. “The designers were like, ‘This just feels so right,’ and they were so up for it,” Hobley said. “We’re really passionate about reproductive freedom. We’re being louder about that than we’ve ever been.” In addition to the shirt, Tinder also gave a $25,000 donation to Planned Parenthood.
“We were thoughtful about who would be the right partner,” Hobley continued, discussing the clothing designer. “Area, they have a point of view on identity. They have a point of view on inclusivity. They have a point of view on reducing stigma.”
Tinder previously gave users the option to add “pro-life” or “pro-choice” to their profiles, in response to the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Other dating apps, like Bumble and Match, have likewise been openly pro-abortion. After Texas enacted the Texas Heartbeat Act in 2021, Bumble began donating to pro-abortion funds, which helped pay for women to travel outside of Texas to get abortions. Match created a fund to pay for employees to travel to get abortions, though presumably, no special funds were created by either organization to help employees or vulnerable women keep their babies.
“This company generally does not take political stands unless it is relevant to our business,” Match CEO Shar Dubey said in an internal memo at the time. “But in this instance, I personally, as a woman in Texas, could not keep silent.”
READ: Dating apps Bumble and Match to begin funding abortions
Tinder may have let slip how pro-life laws affect their bottom line; far from being an issue of taking a principled stand, it seems to be purely business. Tinder partnered with the controversial Kinsey Institute to commission a study which found that “87% of daters said their attitude and behavior in dating changed” after Roe fell.
“We see what this does to connection. We are seeing the repercussions of what happens in these states where access to abortion is gone,” Hobley said. “And we’re pissed, we’re worried, we’re empathetic.” Yes, what happens is that people tend to be careful to avoid pregnancy, which may mean having fewer hook-ups. Monica Snyder from Secular Pro-Life noted (emphasis added):
There is substantial research to show that abortion restrictions are associated with lower unintended pregnancy rates. The idea is that many people view abortion as a back up plan or insurance policy; when a population knows in advance that abortion is less readily accessible, they take more precautions to avoid pregnancy in the first place….
In the wake of new abortion restrictions, lower pregnancy rates coexist with higher birth rates because it is simultaneously true that people are more careful to avoid pregnancy but, if they do get pregnant, they are less likely to access abortion.
Of course, nothing perpetuates hook-up culture — which dating apps like Tinder promote — more than encouraging men and women alike to avoid the natural consequences of sex.
