Abstract
The issue of abortion is one that is contentious and polarizing in a number of countries. In response to the heated nature of these debates, there are strong pro-choice and pro-life movements that are active in various regions of the world. This thesis studies two such abortion rights movements in Argentina and the United States, and factors that have impacted the contexts in which the movements exist and what they have accomplished. Considerations such as the legality of abortion, current political arena, and religion are deeply influential to the ways movements operate, and which collective action frames they employ to share their mission and message to the greater public. I utilize a theoretical framework that includes the concepts of legal context, political field, religious context, framing, and reproductive justice to position abortion movements sociologically. This comparative investigation takes a fresh, nuanced approach to the subject, arguing that we must consider factors like legal, political, and religious contexts as significant pieces of the puzzle when analyzing social movements. Often, scholars and popular discourses take religion to be the sole explanatory factor for why abortion is legal or illegal in a certain country or why a pro-choice movement functions in a certain way. But throughout this work, I demonstrate that we must focus on the confluence of considerations that work together to create the fields in which social movements arise, gain support, and succeed or fail.