Right-Wing Populist Parties and Abortion Policy: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay in Comparative Perspective

The emergence of populist radical right (PRR) parties and their electoral success across the globe has generated a wealth of scholarship examining their electoral strategies, support bases, and gendered forms of representation. Research on party stances vis-à-vis gender equality policy however remains comparatively scarce. Although opposition to moral or doctrinal policies—especially those related to reproductive health—is considered a hallmark of the PRR parties, few studies focus explicitly on abortion. In Latin America, party leaders such as Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, José Antonio Kast in Chile, Guido Manini Ríos in Uruguay, and Javier Milei in Argentina emerged as prominent representatives for the region’s rising right-wing populist forces over the past few years. Among the political traits they share is a firm position against liberal abortion policies. Yet how these party leaders frame the issue of abortion differs across these four cases. What underpins these framings and why do they vary between parties in the region? In this paper, we develop a framework to understand how PRR parties frame abortion. Building on the growing literature on PRR forces in Europe and beyond, we differentiate between secular and religious frames and show how parties in Latin America advance different frames depending on what will help them gain office. The secular frame is employed in societies where religious discourse will not succeed in ushering in new votes, nor political benefits from powerful religious hierarchies. In these cases (Argentina and Uruguay), resistance to liberal abortion policy is framed in secular, primarily anti-globalist, and demographic terms. In the other two cases, Brazil and Chile, we show that a religious framing is directly related to the support of religious hierarchies and the possibility of obtaining the confessional vote. To make this argument, we draw on primary and secondary data consisting of party manifestos and programs, legislative debates, newspaper articles, and scholarly narratives. By comparatively analyzing how parties frame abortion, this paper contributes to studies of the PRR in Latin America and sheds more light on party politics vis-á-vis controversial gender issues.