The digitization of hookup culture—swipe left, swipe right, meet for sex—has simplified the dating landscape for those seeking casual relationships.
Since launching in 2012, Tinder facilitates 1.5 million “dates” weekly and has over 60 million users. While some certainly use Tinder to seek long-term relationships, its primary function is as a sexual marketplace.
As one recent Australian study found: “Tinder users showed a lower adherence to strict sexual standards and a higher level of sexual permissiveness compared to non-users. This suggests that Tinder users are more accepting of casual sexual encounters.
In particular, Tinder users were more likely to disagree with statements such as ‘I have a hard time respecting a girl who has casual sex’ and more likely to agree with statements such as ‘Casual sex is acceptable.’” With millions of people meeting up for casual sexual encounters, it is inevitable that some of them will discover that the baby-making act has resulted in a baby. It is also inevitable that many of those who become pregnant will seek abortions.
In 2021, the parent company of Tinder, Match Group, publicly opposed pro-life laws in Texas; in 2022, the Guardian reported, the company went further: “Match Group has been a vocal advocate of abortion rights, especially after the supreme court’s ruling in June. The company announced on Tuesday that it would add a ‘pro-choice’ badge to users’ profile options. Match Group also supports Planned Parenthood and Bansoff.org through in-app promotions.”
Match Group also provides full abortion coverage for its employees, including travel to states without abortion restrictions for employees living in states with pro-life protections, as did dating apps Bumble and Match.
Thus, it is no surprise that Tinder is making its relationship with the largest abortion provider in the United States formal and public.
According to Teen Vogue, “Planned Parenthood and Area,” a clothing brand, partnered with Tinder to debut a t-shirt at New York Fashion Week that promotes abortion. The black shirt features the slogan “Bans Off Our Bodies,” Tinder’s flame logo on the chest, and, bizarrely, two blood-red hands that seem to stretch towards the wearer’s waistband. Three Planned Parenthood activists scored front row seats at the fashion show.
“The designers were like, ‘This just feels so right,’ and they were so up for it,” Melissa Hobley, Tinder’s Chief Marketing Officer, told Tinder. “We’re really passionate about reproductive freedom. We’re being louder about that than we’ve ever been. We thought about who would be the right partner. [Planned Parenthood and] 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.”
Hobley is referring, of course, to reducing the stigma surrounding killing a baby in the womb; their fashion partnership came with a $25,000 donation to Planned Parenthood.
As Live Action News reported, Tinder’s position may be as much about pragmatism as principle. Tinder partnered with the Kinsey Institute on a study which found that “87% of daters said their attitude and behaviour in dating changed” after Dobbs. “We see what this [pro-life laws] does to connection,” Hobley stated. “And we’re pissed, we’re worried, we’re empathetic.” They appear to be “pissed” primarily because if people choose to act more sexually responsible, that hurts Tinder’s bottom line. As Monica Snyder of Secular Pro-Life noted in an article titled “Abortion Bans Do Not Lead to a Surplus of Unwanted Children”:
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.
Tinder has always provided a pipeline of pregnant women to Planned Parenthood, which exists in large part to eliminate the pre-born children resulting from the reproductive act.
This relationship has been implicit, but obvious.
Now, it’s on a t-shirt, and Tinder is handing cash to the abortion industry to lobby against pro-life protections. Pro-life laws don’t just save babies—they drive down business on hookup apps.
That,
for Tinder, is simply unacceptable.