Groundings (May 2024)
Anti-Abortion Discourse in Canada after the Overturning of Roe v. Wade
Abstract
This study investigates the current (November 2023) discourse of anti-abortion activists in Canada to see if the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 has changed the prevalent themes. A literature review was conducted, and four key themes were inductively derived: Fetal-Personhood Framing, Pro-Women Framing, Religious Downplaying and Legal-Based Arguments. Upon further thematic analysis of six protest sites (July 2022 – November 2023) in Canada, there appeared to be five key themes: Fetal Personhood Framing, Pro-Women Framing, Legal-Based Arguments, Religion-Based Framing and Ascribing Negative Emotions to Women with Abortions. This differed from the findings of Lowe and Page’s 2019 study which found the downplaying of religion to be a key theme. The literature stressed finding Pro-Women Framing in discourses but in this analysis, multiple instances of Ascribing Negative Emotions to Women who had Abortions appeared. As was expected, more arguments seemed to be backed by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as shown by the observation of Legal Based Arguments in protests. This analysis suggests that the reversal of Roe v. Wade has emboldened religious activists by giving them legal backing to no longer downplay religious motivations as their beliefs have been rationalised by law. This can be backed by the lack of Religious Downplaying but relatively frequent Religion-Based Framing and Legal-Based Arguments. Additionally, a minority of signs seemed to be anti-woman which perhaps suggests that the reversal of Roe v. Wade has encouraged activists to vocalise their traditional views more.
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