Contested Pictures of Persuasion: American Images of Foetuses in Swedish Antiabortion Campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s

This chapter explores the circulation, use and public discussion of images of human foetuses travelling from the US to Sweden in the period before and after the introduction of abortion on demand in Sweden in 1975. In this period, new antiabortion groups formed and started to use graphic images of aborted foetuses in their campaigns. This chapter highlights the transnational and transmedial character of this material by demonstrating that many of the images originated from American sources and that many different media were used to spread them, for example, books, brochures, films and slides. Furthermore, this chapter analyses the public discussion about this material, focusing on the uses of words such as “truth”, “information” and “propaganda” in the debates.