Navigating abortion politics in the UK: a feminist institutionalist analysis of intra-feminist power struggles and external resistance

Broadly speaking, abortion debates are often conceptualised in binary terms: pro-choice or pro-life, with stark differences in how each ‘side’ frame the issue. These differences often spark heated policy contests in which actors contest opposing frames. However, this characterisation overlooks internal power struggles and contestations that operate within social movements and activist networks, as well as how anti-abortion actors may capitalise on intra-feminist disputes. This paper addresses these conceptual and empirical gaps by advancing a feminist institutionalist framework, synthesising constructivist and institutionalist approaches to examine the discursive content of policy frames and institutional and movement framing processes. It illuminates the connections between pro-life resistance to abortion and contestations within reproductive rights movements and their shared implications for policy change and women’s rights. This paper demonstrates the merits of this approach through a case study of abortion politics in the United Kingdom (UK). In the UK, abortion is largely a depoliticised issue, albeit one that operates within an incoherent policy and legal landscape due to the legacies of asymmetrical devolution (Moon et al., 2019). Yet, in recent years, abortion debates have intensified following the success of pro-life campaigners in the United States, with increased mobilisation of anti-abortion activism across the country. Consequently, there is a sense of urgency among UK feminist campaigners to make sense of the rise in anti-abortion activism and rhetoric, given the intractability of abortion debates more generally. However, as of yet, there is no consensus on the best way to proceed, with internal disagreements emerging. These divisions encapsulate tactical or strategic decisions (i.e. whether to risk opening up the debate to advocate for decriminalisation) as well as more fundamental disagreements (i.e. disability rights and legal termination exemptions). This paper responds to this urgency by offering an in-country comparison of abortion policy and legislative debates across the UK nations, placing these diverse debates within their respective institutional contexts and wider territorial and constitutional politics. It draws on policy analysis and elite interviews to present preliminary findings, offering a novel intersectional analysis of intra-feminist contests while contributing to the growing literature on resistance to gendered change.