Ever since the Supreme Court made abortion access a federally protected right in 1973, conservatives have attacked Roe v. Wade. Narrative control has been key to anti-abortion movements, including the re-defining of its supporters as “pro-life.” Anti-abortion activists paint themselves as “saving” kids, and they frame privatized adoption as abortion’s ethical alternative. But as Roe teeters on the edge, adoptees and family separation activists are disrupting this conservative narrative — and they’re doing it in a very personal way.
Thanks to its powerful algorithm, TikTok is known for being divided into its own subsections of interests, like SoberTok or EcoTok. If you’ve spent any time on what’s been dubbed AdopteeTok, you might know the name Tory Bae. In the 1980s, Bae was adopted from South Korea to an all-white family in Minnesota. She now lives in North Carolina — and has amassed nearly 100,000 followers since the start of the pandemic by making videos about the foster care and adoption industries.
