The Discursive Production of Abortion Stigma in the Texas Ultrasound Viewing Law

Abstract

State-based abortion-related restrictions are increasing in number and intensity. Our study contributes to a growing body of scholarship examining the relationship between law and the production of abortion-related stigma. Here, we explore the discursive production of abortion stigma through the formation of and debate over such restrictions, using as an example a Texas law mandating pre-procedure ultrasound viewing. We performed a content analysis of public documents related to House Bill 15, which was passed in 2011 by the Texas legislature, challenged and enjoined in the District Court, upheld in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and implemented in 2012. Our analysis finds that proponents of the law discursively construct ultrasound viewing as informational and abortion providers as predatory. In addition, women seeking abortions are tautologically marked as incapable of knowing about their pregnancies and what an abortion will do to the fetus by virtue of having considered abortion. These constructions rely on frames in which abortion is stigmatized and, in turn, † Tracy A. Weitz, PhD, MPA, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. As a medical sociologist, her studies address how abortion care and policy are understood and addressed in the United States. She is also interested in the role of abortion in contemporary American politics. Katrina Kimport, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences and a research sociologist in the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) program at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focuses on the (re)production of inequality, with a particular emphasis on gendered and sexuality-based inequality. Dr. Kimport is the author of QUEERING MARRIAGE: CHALLENGING FAMILY FORMATION IN THE UNITED STATES (2014). Please direct correspondence to: Katrina Kimport, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, University of California San Francisco, 1330 Broadway Street, Ste. 1100, Oakland, CA 94612; kimportk@obgyn.ucsf.edu. Support for this project was provided by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Grant #2012-37676). Some portions of this paper were presented at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI, June 2012. WEITZ & KIMPORT MACRO 2-12 (DO NOT DELETE) 2/12/2015 5:11 PM ABORTION STIGMA IN THE TEXAS ULTRASOUND VIEWING LAW 7 perpetuate that stigmatization. While opponents of the law contested framing women as unable to make an autonomous abortion decision and displaying providers as predatory, they did not challenge the underlying assumption that the ultrasound image is informational content capable of affecting a woman’s decision. Our study concludes that, in order to more proactively address abortion stigma, a reverse discourse must be developed. This discourse will disrupt the presumptions that the abortion decision is abnormal and that women cannot autonomously decide to terminate their pregnancies. INTRODUCTION 7 I.METHODS. . . . . . . . . 11 A. Materials Reviewed 11 II.ANALYSIS 13 III.RESULTS 13 A. Constructing Ultrasound Viewing as Informational to the Abortion Decision 14 B. Constructing the Predatory Provider 16 IV.DISCUSSION 18 CONCLUSION 20