Transnationalization of Anti-Choice Politics. Heartbeat International Actions Repertoire and its Activism in Romania

In the past years, we have been witnessing the alarming rise of anti-gender movements that penetrated the deepest structures of the society and politics, posing significant threats to gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and democratic norms. Consequently, anti-abortion activism became a salient feature of these movements. There is a growing scholarship assessing anti-gender campaigns as a transnational, global movement. However, while most studies stress the global dimension of anti-gender mobilizations and local anti-gender campaigns separately, their interconnections remain highly underexplored. The paper stresses that there is an acute need to understand anti-choice mobilizations in Romania, a highly understudied issue, from a transnational perspective. In this sense, the current research aims to interrogate the relationship and nature of interactions between the transnationally operating anti-abortion network, Heartbeat International, and right-wing state and non-state actors based nationally (in Romania), striving to understand increasing national anti-abortion mobilizations in the 2016-2024 timeframe, as well as the emerging number of crisis pregnancy centers. The research draws on highly multidisciplinary gender and feminist scholarship, as well as social movement theory. Using mixed-method, theory driven design, the research bridges social movement scholarship (frame diffusion, resource mobilization, and action repertoire) with social network analysis to produce empirically grounded understanding of anti-abortion activism transnationally and investigate global-local dynamics of anti-abortion mobilization. The study encompasses three empirical stages. First, it aims to interrogate and qualitatively analyze the action repertoire of Heartbeat International and the Organization`s international expansion. Second, it strives to map Romanian anti-abortion actors and categorize them (religious, non-religious, state, non-state; civil society actors). Third, it examines the interactions and frame diffusion between the two levels, with a specific emphasis on the Romanian anti-abortion activism. Data is collected from organizations` websites (web archives including), campaign documents, events participation lists, and public statements.The research is aimed at providing, for those interested in the ongoing anti-abortion mobilization, a better understanding of the patterns of interactions of anti-abortion actors and the political changes they have fostered as a result of their cooperation. Moreover, findings can draw important regional insights and help generalize findings beyond the case study, contributing to a broader understanding of anti-gender transnational movements` influence in ex-soviet liberal democracies across South Eastern Europe.