Empowering women by regulating abortion? Conservative women lawmaker’s cooptation of feminist language in US abortion politics

ABSTRACT

Conservative women in US state legislatures outpace their male colleagues in introducing anti-abortion policies. In doing so, they often frame anti-abortion policy standpoints in feminist terms. They assert abortion physically and emotionally damages women, and abortion providers fail to inform women. By centering women’s welfare, conservative women seek to enhance their representation, and wrest the mantle of being “pro-woman” from feminists. In this article, I analyse the use of feminist framing of anti-abortion bills by conservative women representatives. Their words signify a rise in the cooption of feminist language by conservative women and challenge the notion of representation.

KEYWORDS:

• US politics
• gender and politics
• abortion
• Republican Party
• issue framing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 http://governor.alabama.gov/newsroom/2013/04/governor-bentley-signs-womens-health-and-safety-act/.

2 See then Missouri Senate candidate and Representative for the Missouri 2nd District Todd Akin on the need for abortion after rape: “If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down” https://fox2now.com/news/jaco-report/the-jaco-report-august-19-2012/.

3 According to the PEW Research Center, 59% of the public believes abortion should remain legal in all or most cases. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/05/06/about-six-in-ten-americans-say-abortion-should-be-legal-in-all-or-most-cases/. According the Kaiser Family Foundation, 58% of the public supported the birth control mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

4 In order to collect news media statements, I turned to Access World News database, as well as Google News. I used search terms of the state the bill was introduced, the sponsor’s name, the bill number, the year, and the word “abortion,” or a detail of the bill – for example, “informed consent” or “ultrasound.” There were limited stories on these bills, as some of them are routine occurrences that motivate little to no coverage. I found 40 original (not reprinted) news stories on the various regulatory abortion. There were a total of 43 separate statements within those news stories. Of those 43 statements, 18 mention fetal life or fetal rights. 25 statements used a pro-woman frame. There was also overlap between a pro-fetus and pro-woman frame, which I discuss below, found in 9 statements. Several other statements were neutral, focusing on healthcare providers or taxation.

5 cawp.rutgers.edu

6 https://richmond.com/news/local/government-politics/justin-fairfax-and-jill-vogel-spar-in-first-debate-for-lg/article_0d651b56-f8d9-51d2-a14e-d1bb04ac6abb.html

7 https://www.wdrb.com/news/bill-requiring-women-to-get-an-ultrasound-prior-to-abortion/article_800fb7ac-0600-54a5-8e80-f8eddf7148cc.html

8 https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/abortion-bills-focus-on-fetal-heartbeats/article_2caa3de3-a48b-5a7f-a641-36ae50044ce9.html

9 https://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/indiana/Abortion-bills-OK-d-18014547. Mayfield’s Republican women colleagues disputed the idea of abortion “reversals.”

10 http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/9/11/missouri-lawmakersenact72hourabortionwait.html.

11 https://www.bostonherald.com/2014/03/11/eagan-abortion-bill-would-punish-ri-women/

12 https://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/idaho-senate-passes-abortion-targeting-ultrasound-bill/Content?oid=3741838

13 http://floridapolitics.com/archives/209657-keli-stargel-proudly-stands-behind-controversial-abortion-bill-rpof-meeting-tampa

14 https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/07/ann-clemmer-arkansas_n_2829727.html

15 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jane-nelson-texas-abortion-bill_n_3586769

16 https://madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/sen-mary-lazich-on-abortion-in-the-s-you-needed/article_9c84aa32-d45d-11e2-893d-001a4bcf887a.html.

17 Although the language might echo a feminist discourse, it is doubtful that anyone involved in the reproductive justice movement would ultimately support the regulatory abortion policies put forth by these conservative women, or any lawmaker for that matter, as they are directly at odds with the policy goals and outcomes of the reproductive justice movement.