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Abstract
This article argues that some leaders within the US antiabortion movement are pursuing a frame extension in order to attract new adherents to their cause. While the dominant rhetoric of the movement today focuses on the fetus and the immorality of abortion, pro-woman rhetoric has reemerged that leverages both the language of women's rights as well as science in order to propose that abortion is bad for women. The frame extension is evident outside even the social movement organizations, and if the pro-woman rhetoric resonates with traditional opponents of the antiabortion movement, it could allow the movement to construct a majority for further restrictions on abortion access and rights.
Notes
1. 550 U.S. 124.
2. Feminist legal scholar Reva Siegel has produced several publications on the subject of pro-woman abortion rhetoric; her work focuses on the constitutional implications of such a shift, while this piece emphasizes the political and social movement implications of the shift.
3. 410 U.S. 113.
4. For a review of these various approaches, see CitationBanaszak (1996).
5. A master frame can be understood as the broader organizing principle under which particular frames converge. CitationSnow and Benford (1992) state that “Master frames re to movement-specific collective action frames as paradigms are to finely tuned theories. Master frames are generic; specific collective action frames are derivative” (138).
6. 410 U.S. 179.
7. See CitationSchaeffer and Koop (1978), cited in CitationPetchesky (1990) as examples of the latent calls for consideration of abortive women. Also, Birthright International (whose motto is, “we love them both!) positions itself as an organization supporting women's health and well-being through the provision of pregnancy crisis counseling and the presentation of alternatives to abortion.
8. A number of studies have refuted the claim that abortion leads to post-procedure psychological distress. See, most notably, CitationAdler et al. (1990); CitationAdler et al. (1992); CitationAdler, Ozer, and Tschann (2003).
9. Lorena Bobbitt, who infamously severed her husband's penis, had been driven to do so because of abortion-induced trauma, “All the evidence presented at Lorena's trial supports the view that her psychiatric symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were precipitated by a coerced abortion three days before their first wedding anniversary. Lorena pleaded to keep her child and gave in to the abortion only because she was pressured into it by John. Like other women before her, Lorena experienced the unwanted abortion as an attack on both her maternity and her sexuality. That is the key to understanding her subsequent attack on John” (CitationElliot Institute 2004b).
10. To some degree the more conventional pro-life organizations have begun to use the language of science when they discuss fetal pain. While the Elliot Institute is focused on using science to demonstrate abortion's harm to women, the more established pro-life groups are amenable to the science framework to advocate on behalf of the fetus. By framing their concern for fetal pain in the context of science, the more conventional pro-life organizations create a bridge between themselves and the Elliot group.
11. Webster v. Reproductive Health Services 492 U.S. 490.
12. See CitationFerree et al. (2002) for a more complete explanation of rights-based abortion discourse within a comparative perspective. According to the authors, rights-based justifications for abortion access claims was more commonly associated with American than German movements.