Pro-life Research Articles

The theological vindication of resistance against enforced motherhood

For the suffragists of the 19th century, women’s enfranchisement was a central goal. Yet the right to vote was not nearly as vital to the suffragists as the right to one’s own bodily freedom. Furthermore, as they saw it, bodily autonomy was a ‘sacred’ right: it was grounded theologically. Most concerning to the suffragists were the ways in which women of their time were forced against their will to become mothers. This article presents the suffragists’ theological grounds for resisting enforced motherhood. As I argue, doing so serves three purposes. First, it helps pro-choice Christians understand the ways in which their faith might support the defense of abortion access. Second, it foregrounds the political theological insights of the all too often overlooked suffragists. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it gives the lie to a widespread mischaracterization of the suffragists as would-be advocates of the contemporary anti-abortion movement.

Clinicians’ criteria for fetal moral status: viability and relationality, not sentience

The antiabortion movement is increasingly using ostensibly scientific measurements such as ‘fetal heartbeat’ and ‘fetal pain’ to provide ‘objective’ evidence of the moral status of fetuses. However, there is little...

Praying against abortion: the re-publicisation of religion in Croatia

ABSTRACT In the post-Yugoslav context, anti-abortion activism has only recently transitioned from the institutional to the protest arena. Amid these evolving dynamics, continuous and strong ties persist between anti-abortion activism and Catholicism, with religion now operating through civil society and in physical public space, blurring the boundaries between religious and secular. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted during two ‘40 Days for Life’ prayer campaigns in 2021 at six distinct protest locations within Croatia, this study examines how anti-abortion clinic activism re-publicises religion. We show how the anti-abortion protests have re-publicised religion through the civil society sphere in three acts: (1) the establishment of religious protest spaces; (2) the utilisation of religious symbols and artefacts as meaning-making tools for materialising the protest as religious and political; (3) the enactment of performative prayers as ritualised protest performances. These acts collectively culminate in the construction of a sacred space, serving as a manifestation of the re-publicisation of religion. Contrary to other findings, we have also found that anti-abortion clinic activists use religious abortion framing.

Genocide, surveillance, and babies: “embodied propaganda” and the anti-abortion to conspiracy pipeline

ABSTRACT The judicial decision to overturn the federal right to abortion in the United States has profoundly influenced women across the country. Relying on 2,230 individual stories and over 500 posts on Instagram by anti-abortion activists, we investigate their discourse around abortion produced in a specific cultural moment—that of post-Roe America and a post-truth online society in which disinformation and conspiracy spread rampantly. This combined moment is particularly relevant given that people who can get pregnant are being marginalized and criminalized in American society at the same time that trust in experts and institutions is declining, thus troubling both institutional and feminist knowledge-production. Conceptually we draw on existing studies on embodied, feminist knowledge, intersectionality, populist expertise and conspiracy-believing, as well as gendered disinformation and conspiracy to show how (a) anti-abortion rhetoric devolves not only into disinformation but also conspiracy theories that are common among the alt-right and conservative online networks; (b) that the feedback loop among these communities is strong, and (c) that the anti-abortion movement on Instagram is experimenting with Gen Z rhetoric. We introduce and demonstrate the concept of embodied propaganda to capture the phenomenon of co-opting the experiences of marginalized groups in society to manipulate public opinion.

The effects of religious group engagement on anti-abortion protest participation in Poland

ABSTRACT Religious engagement can foster either democratic or illiberal views among adherents. Some religious institutions attempt to mobilize believers against abortion rights. For these believers, when does religion mobilize pro-choice protest participation? I test three pathways by which a prescriptive norm of pro-life protest participation might mobilize believers: general religiosity, hierarchical pressure from religious leaders, and pressure from fellow parishioners. Using semi-structured interviews with Polish anti-abortion organizers and an original, pre-registered survey experiment of Polish Catholics, I show that religiosity does not mobilize anti-abortion activism. Instead, religious group engagement powerfully drives pro-life protest. Hierarchical pressures from religious leaders and group pressures from fellow parishioners only increase the likelihood that believers protest against abortion for highly engaged parishioners, but not less-engaged parishioners. Further, religious group engagement levels fully mediate these relationships. Thus, hierarchical and social norms impact individuals’ protest propensity to the extent that they are deeply embedded in a tightly knit social group.

THE NARROW CONFINES OF INSTITUTIONAL ACTIVISM: THE U.S. SUPREME COURT, ABORTION, AND AMICUS CURIAE BRIEFS

Abortion disputes routinely occur in the judicial realm. Before the Supreme Court, from Roe to Dobbs, both reproductive rights and antiabortion movement groups and their allies engaged in institutional activism, filing amicus curiae (or friend-of-the-court) briefs to influence case outcomes. The number of such briefs has increased substantially over time. Yet few movement researchers investigate this form of institutional activism. We examine amicus briefs in over forty abortion cases from 1971 to 2022, discerning which amicus filers and frames influence justice voting, including for the pivotal moderate justices. We situate our work in resource mobilization, professional status, and framing theorizing, concluding that amicus briefs significantly shape judicial outcomes in abortion cases. However, our results show effective amicus strategies confront a narrow set of opportunities for judicial influence. Unsurprisingly, the Supreme Court battle over reproductive rights is heavily shaped by justice ideology, with filer and framing approaches—when they are influential—impacting mainly moderate justices.

Machine Learning for Predicting Intent of Radical Action in Text Data

Many cases of radicalism, especially violent radicalism, manifest within the context of inter-ethnic conflict and war. Research in this domain has significantly contributed to our overarching comprehension of the issue. This form of radicalism is inherently linked to the dynamics of group affiliation. However, our focus here is directed towards the individual motivation driving radical actions. While radical actions may encompass dynamics of group affiliation (e.g., the most radical pro-life activists being members of the Army of God), they also possess a substantial individual component. For instance, numerous attacks on abortion doctors or clinics are categorized as ’lone-wolf terrorism’. In this study, we sought to examine whether state-of-the-art Machine Learning tech- nology for text analysis could effectively discern the intent behind radical actions from user-generated content. We analyzed a diverse array of radical texts published online by various activists, including anarchists, Iranian guerrilla members, Indian revolution- aries, activists from the US civil rights movement, and The Army of God. Our analysis reveals that Machine Learning models can successfully identify potential signals indica- tive of the author’s intent behind radical actions.

Competing Paternalisms: Robert George v. Adrian Vermeule and the Post-Dobbs Battle for Guiding Anti-Abortion Jurisprudence

ABSTRACT Disagreements are mounting between elite opponents of abortion with regard to constitutional interpretation. A rival interpretive method to originalism, common good constitutionalism holds that judges must invoke their own moral views when deciding legal questions, ushering the United States toward a “postliberal” future. Increasingly attractive to right-wing politicians in the US and Europe, postliberalism is a far cry from conservatives’ familiar refrain that reviving the framers’ wisdom will restore our polity’s health. Unlike originalists, postliberals believe individual autonomy is a debased notion of human freedom because it seeks to expand rights instead of promoting substantive and common human goods. Feminists’ justified distrust of the liberal state to secure safety, freedom, and access for all who can become pregnant sometimes manifests in similar sentiments. Yet, precisely in light of past and ongoing reproductive harms, intersectional feminists require a firm notion of individual agency as a moral good and a proper desideratum of government – especially in the wake of Dobbs. Without an affirmation of consent as the root of ethical care and community, feminist critiques of individual rights come perilously close to facilitating the oppressive logic of postliberalism, which unapologetically subordinates individuals to hierarchical collectivities.

Children of the Sexual Politics of Abortion and Transition

This article elucidates the connection between anti-trans and anti-abortion political movements, looking closely at laws banning gender-affirming care in the wake of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022. In particular, the article claims, “anti-abortion and anti-trans political successes are floated by a moral crisis over a fantasized, imperiled child.”

WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT: OPPOSITION OR HARMONY?

The aim of this article is to focus on women’s rights and how these rights correlate with pro-life stance: Are those in opposition to one another or in harmony? In order to answer this question, an analysis of the notion of women’s rights has been performed. Moreover, the categories of the rights of pregnant women and reproductive rights are also examined. The normative analysis of human rights provisions concerning the scope of the protection of the right to life in the pre-natal phase is made, alongside the examination of relevant judicial decisions, namely: the Court of Justice of the European Union in the "Grogan" case (1991), the Supreme Court of the United States judgments in "Roe v. Wade" (1973) and "Dobbs" case (2022), the European Court of Human Rights in "Bouton v. France" (2022) and the Polish Constitutional Tribunal judgment on prohibition of eugenic abortion (2020). In conclusion, the arguments concerning the mutual relationship between women’s rights and the pro-life and pro-abortion movements are presented, with a final standpoint on the noble character of the pro-life stance, based on human rights protection due to solidarity, altruism and cosmopolitan values.

REFLECTIONS ON ABORTION POLITICS IN THE NEW RIGHT-WING AMERICA*

What lies ahead for the longstanding politics of abortion in the United States now that a constitutional right to abortion has ended and—more generally—conservative politics have been consumed by the rise of the MAGA movement led by Donald Trump? I contextualize the state of abortion politics today within the larger half-century history of the battle over the issue by identifying four stages of abortion politics. I then offer some observations on the key political maneuvers that made the overthrow of Roe v. Wade possible. Finally, I outline how the central questions for the future of abortion lie at the intersection of the pro-life movement, the Republican Party, and the MAGA movement.

FEMINIST QUEEN OR CONSPIRACY THEORIST? FEMALE SPREADERS OF WOMEN'S HEALTH DISINFORMATION

Soon after the $2 decision overturned the federal right to abortion in the United States, an investigation revealed a disinformation campaign against birth control, driven by anti-abortion influencers. Disinformation targeting abortion and birth control is partially rooted in conspiracy, particularly the Great Replacement Theory, which plays on fears of white people being “replaced” by people of color. This notion is a long-standing issue of the anti-abortion movement, as early successes in banning abortion were partially motivated by fears of white people having fewer babies than people of color. Studies have shown that Black Americans believe in conspiracy theories about birth control, e.g., that it is deployed by the government as a form of genocide against Black people. Unfortunately, though, these beliefs are not entirely unfounded. This problematizes definitions of conspiracy theories as inherently false and unjustified—Black Americans, for instance, have long undergone inhumane experimentation by the American medical system. This illuminates a troubling connection—that between embodied oppression and conspiracy-believing. We query whether this overlap is weaponized by the anti-abortion community to spread disinformation campaigns. Through a critical technocultural discourse analysis of 14 hours of Instagram stories and posts from 154 members of the anti-abortion collected between February 14, 2023 and February 27, 2023, we find that the anti-abortion movement has weaponized feminist knowledge-production and relies on grains of embodied experience to spread disinformation campaigns, which at times snowball into racially-motivated conspiracy theories for political and/or financial gain.

“Let’s Make the Womb Safe Again”: Ethnographic Explorations of White Evangelical Women’s Language of Reproductive Injustice

Like broader conservative movements, the pro-life movement in the United States has a fraught history regarding its alignment with White supremacy. Yet, the whiteness of the pro-life movement is often hidden behind the discourses of colorblind racism through the U.S. cultural moment. To uncover and deconstruct this supposed “anti-racist” discourse, I study Evangelical women and their roles in the pro-life/anti-choice movement to explore their consequences on the narratives of abortion and reproductive health care from the 1970s to present. I conduct interviews and participant observation with self-described Evangelical pro-life women through ethnographic opportunities and events. In this study, I explore the intersectional issues of reproductive injustices through fieldwork and interviews with anti-choice women. These interviews and ethnographic data focus on a particular group of anti-choice organizers who prepare and oversee the logistics of this movement: pro-life women. How does it come to be that conservative women control the narratives of reproductive health care? How can ethnographic methods be utilized to unveil new information and knowledge surrounding the barriers to reproductive health care by the pro-life movement? I analyze this qualitative data to understand how the rhetoric of the pro-life/anti-choice movement invades the language of reproductive health in the United States and how a reproductive justice framework can begin to deconstruct this problematic flow.

Vulnerability Ethics, Abortion, and Organ Donation.

In a recent issue of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, Emily Carroll and Parker Crutchfield published a paper entitled, "The Duty to Protect, Abortion, and Organ Donation." They argued that a prohibition on abortion is morally equivalent to a positive mandate for parents to donate organs to their children and that opponents of abortion must be prepared to accept these mandates to remain consistent.

Raising ‘True Believers’: Anti-Abortion ‘Education’ for Primary Children in the UK

In the UK, the vast majority of people accept abortion, whether or not they are religious. Holding an absolutist anti-abortion view is out of line with the general population. The overwhelming majority of anti-abortion activists are motivated by conservative Christian religious beliefs, not necessarily shared by others in their faith communities. Their minority position, and ageing population, poses issues for the continuance of the anti-abortion movement, creating a need for specific anti-abortion religious socialisation that is unavailable elsewhere. Drawing on data from a longitudinal ethnographic study of anti-abortion activism, this article highlights the ways in which anti-abortion activists seek to develop anti-abortion values among primary-aged children. It illustrates their conflict between the need to develop a strong anti-abortion identity and involving children in potentially controversial discussions on abortion. We use the framework of lived religion to argue that, while much attention has been given to the concerns about children in minority religions, this has resulted in a lack of attention to the diversity of practices within mainstream religious communities, and how controversial forms of socialisation are managed.

COVID-19 and abortion in the Ohio River Valley: A case study of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.

During early stages of COVID-19 in the United States, government representatives in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia restricted or threatened to restrict abortion care under elective surgery bans. We examined how abortion utilization changed in these states. We examined COVID-19 abortion-related state policies implemented in March and April 2020 using publicly available sources. We analyzed data on abortions by method and gestation and experiences of facility staff, using a survey of 14 facilities. We assessed abortions that took place in February-June 2020 and February-June 2021. In February-June 2020 the monthly average abortion count was 1916; 863 (45%) were medication abortions and 229 (12%) were ≥14 weeks gestation. Of 1959 abortions performed across all three states in April 2020, 1319 (67%) were medication abortions and 231 (12%) were ≥14 weeks gestation. The shift toward medication abortion that took place in April 2020 was not observed in April 2021. Although the total abortion count in the three-state region remained steady, West Virginia had the greatest decline in total abortions, Ohio experienced a shift from instrumentation to medication abortions, and Kentucky saw little change. Staff reported increased stress from concerns over health and safety and increased scrutiny by the state and anti-abortion protesters. Although abortion provision continued in this region, policy changes restricting abortion in Ohio and West Virginia resulted in a decrease in first trimester instrumentation abortions, an overall shift toward medication abortion care, and an increase in stress among facility staff during the early phase of COVID-19.

Abortion restrictions and unlimited government in the United States today

AbstractThe controversy over a woman's “right to choose,” as opposed to the numerous “rights” that abortion opponents decide should be assumed to exist for “unborn children,” has always struck me as incomplete. Two missing elements of the argument seem obvious, yet they remain almost completely overlooked. The first is that there is virtually no consideration whatsoever for the pregnant person herself. Her rights, if she is even assumed to have any at all, do not in any way enter into consideration, unless possibly if the pregnancy appears to threaten her life (to be sure, some more humane anti‐abortionists do concede, often grudgingly, that no one should have to carry to term a pregnancy caused by rape, but the point remains). Second, and most paradoxically, opponents of abortion appear also generally to be opposed to “big government,” yet all the while they refuse to recognize any rights at all that belong to the person who is pregnant and to be comfortable with complete control over her. The opponents seem oblivious to the clear fact that stripping pregnant adults of all ability to determine their future requires an enormously powerful, virtually totalitarian government. So, I argue that it is not correct that the United States has had a tradition of abortion prohibition while simultaneously being a “free country.” The association of anti‐abortion policies with right‐wing authoritarianism is definite. Whether there is a cause‐and‐effect relationship is irrelevant. All repressive and dictatorial policies need to be opposed. The Republican Party now continues its merry way to suppress votes, subvert democracy, and attempt to ensure that women are stripped of their autonomy and serve only as incubators for the preservation of the human race and for male pleasure. I conclude that looking at abortion from the viewpoint of informed common sense is long overdue. This article provides that overdue look, along with my apology for not having given the warning sooner.

Antiabortion legal mobilization in Brazil: Human rights as a field of contention

Abstract This article analyzes the legal strategies used by the Brazilian antiabortion movement, observing its frames and argumentative strategies. It contextualizes the importance of the antiabortion movement within the recent conservative wave, as the movement had recently undergone a process of renewal, becoming one of the support bases for right-wing populist President Jair Bolsonaro’s government. The new configurations and strategies advanced by the movement reveal the centrality of lawyers and legal strategies, using the language of human rights. An analysis of court documents and public hearings at different political moments highlights recent shifts in antiabortion legal framings. While human rights language has always been ambivalent and contested, this article argues that what is taking place in the context of the reframed antiabortion movement is an appropriation (or misappropriation) of human rights, which distorts its most fundamental feature and advocates for anti-pluralist ends.

Women, Abortion Protest, and Visual

With the overturned case of Roe v. Wade, women have taken on a battle of fighting for body rights. After the final decision of the case, relevant reports dominated the front pages of newspapers and magazines. This essay aims to explore the relationship between women and visuals in the context of protest, with a specific focus on abortion protest. It adopts the perspective of visual activism and applies image analysis, focusing on a series of photographs and artworks about demonstrations, especially the abortion protest and the movement of Black Lives Matter. It concludes that visual materials could express womens emotions and power and spread them to more people. They promote gender equality, which reflects the positive side of visual activism. However, to some extent, visual materials reinforce gender stereotypes when other social elements are involved, such as racism in the movement of Black Lives Matter.

Dollars for life: the anti-abortion movement and the fall of the Republican establishment

Journal Article Dollars for life: the anti-abortion movement and the fall of the Republican establishment Get access Dollars for life: the anti-abortion movement and the fall of the Republican establishment. By Mary Ziegler. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 2022. 344pp. £25.00. Isbn780 3 0026 014 4. Available as e-book. Sara Angevine Sara Angevine Whittier College, USA Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 99, Issue 3, May 2023, Pages 1362–1364, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiad067 Published: 02 May 2023