Moral Discourses on Abortion Policies: A Critical Frame Analysis

This study broadens the analysis of morality policies regarding Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in the US states by focusing on the interpretative frames applied by policymakers, which can meaningfully shape the kind of policy that will be adopted. It deepens the analysis of “manifest” morality policies and their underlying cultural opportunity structure, in which religion represents a cultural force that shapes both policy demand and party position on moral issues. More specifically, it applies a Critical Frame Analysis to broaden our understanding of the adoption of restrictive legislation on abortion over the time period 1980-2014. The ways in which abortion is problematized and the solutions put forward reveal how far factors that have been identified in quantitative studies as idiosyncratic of “manifest” morality policies actually inform policymakers’ implicit and explicit interpretations of the issue. Bills, executive orders and floor debates transcripts by state governments, as well as other texts such as model legislation by The National Right to Life Committee and advocacy documents by Planned Parenthood are included in the study. The analysis of these policy documents highlights the existence of two main frames. The first one problematizes abortion as a woman’s and human rights issue, thus considering it an individual’s right to make her own reproductive choices. The second one is characterized by the Christian understanding of life starting at conception and presents abortion as a moral problem. Policy frames on abortion show similar patterns across states but the debates leading to different policy outputs vary according to specific contexts. Thus, the results underline the importance of paying attention to both normative variables and the impact of factors such as the partisan mobilization of actors, the religious composition of each state and the role of institutional settings.