Gender in the post-socialist transition: the abortion debate in Hungary.

Abstract

The construction of Hungary's abortion debate provides a case study of a struggle for control of the principles of political rule in post-socialist Eastern Europe. In the mid-1980s, a campaign to force women to leave the labor force to end overemployment was implemented by means of a media effort to blame working women for the problems of children and social measures such as subsidies for women who remained home to care for children and the aged. Populist writers and Christian professionals equated the liberal abortion policy of the Communist state with mass murder, anti-nationalism, and moral decline. Couples who chose not to give birth because of financial instability or a lack of housing were labelled materialistic and unwilling to contribute to the survival of Hungarian society. Women were portrayed in the debate as ignorant dupes of the Communist system incapable of making an informed decision on the abortion issue. In contrast, the liberal opposition advocated minimalist state intervention in private life, including individual moral judgments about abortion. On both sides of the debate, historical precedent was used for political legitimation. In the battle for discursive hegemony, Hungarian women have been largely silent. However, polls indicate that the majority of women are convinced that abortion must remain legal, given its tradition as the major source of birth control. There is no room, on either side of the debate, for assertions of women's rights to choose. For populists, this would represent a throwback to the rhetoric of state socialism; for the opposition, it would undermine the sanctity of the family. Overall, the Hungarian abortion debate is less about sexuality and women's rights than about questions regarding national identify and the shaping of a new politic. Through the debate, various political coalitions and elites have located an area for vying for power during the present period of societal restratification.