Framing Abortion Rights in U.S. Online News: A Discourse-Historical Analysis of Democratic and Republican Outlets
الموضوعات : Journal of Studies in Learning and Teaching EnglishHayder Tareq Abed Abed 1 , Marzieh Sharifi Haratmeh 2 , Basim Jubair Kadhim Al-Jameel 3 , Ehsan Rezvani 4
1 - Department of English, Isf. C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
2 - Department of English, Isf. C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
3 - Open Educational College, Najaf Center, Ministry of Education, Najaf, Iraq
4 - Department of English, Isf. C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
الکلمات المفتاحية: Abortion rights, Critical discourse analysis, Discourse-historical approach, Framing theory, Partisan media, Ideological polarization, Online news outlets.,
ملخص المقالة :
This study investigates how Democratic and Republican online news outlets frame abortion rights to mobilize their audiences in the post-Dobbs era, using the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) of Critical Discourse Analysis. Analyzing 80 articles from The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and Fox News (June 2022–December 2024), it identifies distinctive discursive strategies of nomination, predication, and argumentation. Quantitative findings show Democratic outlets rely heavily on nomination (20 instances) and predication (18) to present abortion as an issue of individual freedom and democratic values, often employing empathy-driven narratives appealing to socially justice-oriented readers. Republican outlets use balanced strategies (predication 17, nomination 19) to frame abortion as a pragmatic, state-level concern with minimal electoral significance, emphasizing federalism and moral restraint to resonate with conservative audiences. Qualitative analysis reveals Democratic media positively nominate pro-choice actors and stress threats to rights, while Republican media minimize electoral loss and foreground judicial or states’ rights perspectives. These patterns reinforce ideological polarization, supporting framing theory and CDA. The study’s implications span media practice and pedagogy: it highlights the importance of media literacy education for decoding partisan narratives and calls on journalists to adopt more balanced framing. Theoretically, it extends DHA to digital news contexts, demonstrating its utility for examining polarized discourse and suggesting future research on smaller platforms or longitudinal trends.
Adamczyk, A., Kim, C., & Dillon, L. (2020). Examining public opinion about abortion: A mixed-methods systematic review of research over the last 15 years. Sociological Inquiry, 90(4), 920–954. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12351
Al Maghlouth, N. (2017). A critical discourse analysis of social change in women-related posts on Saudi English-language blogs posted between 2009 and 2012 [Doctoral dissertation, Lancaster University]. Lancaster University Research Repository.
Altheide, D. L. (1987). Reflections: Ethnographic content analysis. Qualitative Sociology, 10(1), 65–77. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00988269
Annas, G. J. (2022). Trust, brutality, and human dignity: How “partial birth abortion” helps shape American biopolitics. American Journal of Law & Medicine, 48(2–3), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1017/aml.2022.27
Carson, S., & Carter, S. K. (2023). Abortion as a public health risk in COVID-19 antiabortion legislation. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 48(4), 545–568. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-10449941
Chang, M. (2024). Framing the abortion debate: A comparative analysis of CNN and Fox News coverage. Journal of Media Studies, 45(3), 123–145.
Deckman, M., Elder, L., Greene, S., & Lizotte, M.-K. (2023). Deceptively stable? How the stability of aggregate abortion attitudes conceals Partisan induced shifts. Political Research Quarterly, 77(2), 500-517. https://doi.org/10.1177/10659129231222883 (Original work published 2024)
Döring, N. (2023). Abortion attitudes (media content, user comments). DOCA - Database of Variables for Content Analysis. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-243538
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. Routledge.
Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical discourse analysis. In T. A. van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse as social interaction (pp. 258–284). Sage.
Forchtner, B. (2011). Critique, the discourse-historical approach, and the Frankfurt School. Critical Discourse Studies, 8(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2011.533567
Fulgoni, D., Carpenter, J., Ungar, L., & Preoţiuc-Pietro, D. (2016). An empirical exploration of moral foundations theory in partisan news sources. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2016), 3730–3736.
Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: A constructionist approach. American Journal of Sociology, 95(1), 1–37. https://doi.org/10.1086/229213
Jalali, S. (2023). Abortion in the post-Dobbs era: A comparative discourse analysis of U.S. media coverage. Communication Review, 26(2), 89–112.
Jelen, T. G., & Wilcox, C. (2003). Causes and consequences of public attitudes toward abortion: A review and research agenda. Political Research Quarterly, 56(4), 489–500. https://doi.org/10.1177/106591290305600408
Lakoff, G. (2000). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1980) https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226470993.001.0001
Lakoff, G. (2014). Moral politics: How liberals and conservatives think (3rd ed.). University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1996)
Lambert, V., Loud, E. E., & Billings, D. L. (2023). Qualitative analysis of anti-abortion discourse used in arguments for a 6-week abortion ban in South Carolina. Frontiers in Global Women’s Health, 4, Article 1239092. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2023.1239092
Lindberg, E. (2023). The abortion debate in the U.S. media: A critical discourse analysis of the reporting on abortion in U.S. newspapers [Master’s thesis, Malmö University]. DiVA portal. http://mau.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1798262/FULLTEXT02.pdf
Lowe, P. (2018). (Re)imagining the ‘backstreet’: Anti-abortion campaigning against decriminalisation in the UK. Sociological Research Online, 24(2), 203–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/1360780418819800
Magin, M., & Geiß, S. (2019). Beyond time and space: The impact of autonomy from politics and commercialization pressure on mediatization in German and Austrian newspapers—A multilevel approach. Political Communication, 36(4), 543–564. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2018.1527379
Mericka, J. (2022). Discursive strategies in the U.S. abortion debate: A critical discourse analysis [Master’s thesis, University of Maryland]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
Mikołajczak, M., & Bilewicz, M. (2015). Foetus or child? Abortion discourse and attributions of humanness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 54(3), 500–518. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12096
Ntontis, E., & Hopkins, N. (2018). Framing a ‘social problem’: Emotion in anti-abortion activists’ depiction of the abortion debate. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57(3), 666–683. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12249
Pérez-Escoda, A., & Lokot, T. (2023). Charting the impacts of media discourses on the European integration project. Media and Communication, 11(4), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i4.7526
Reisigl, M., & Wodak, R. (2001). Discourse and discrimination: Rhetorics of racism and antisemitism. Routledge.
Reisigl, M., & Wodak, R. (2008). The discourse-historical approach (DHA). In R. Wodak & M. Meyer (Eds.), Methods of critical discourse analysis (2nd ed., pp. 87–121). Sage.
Reisigl, M., & Wodak, R. (2009). The discourse-historical approach (DHA). In R. Wodak & M. Meyer (Eds.), Methods of critical discourse analysis (2nd ed., pp. 87–121). Sage.
Reproductive Freedom for All. (2020). Media framing of abortion rights: A content analysis of U.S. news outlets. https://reproductivefreedomforall.org/media-analysis-2020
Rose, M. (2011). Pro-life, pro-woman? Frame extension in the American antiabortion movement. Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 32(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554477X.2011.537565
Solon, M., LaRoche, K. J., Bueno, X., Crawford, B. L., Turner, R. C., Lo, W.-J., & Jozkowski, K. N. (2022). Pro‐choice/pro‐elección versus pro‐life/pro‐vida: Examining abortion identity terms across English and Spanish in the United States. Social Science Quarterly, 103(7), 1602–1618. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13219
Thompson, S. E., & Green, M. J. (2018). Framing partisan media coverage: A comparative analysis of CNN and Fox News. Journal of Communication Studies, 69(4), 456–473.
Wodak, R. (2001). The discourse of politics in action: Politics as usual. Palgrave Macmillan.
Wodak, R. (2013). Critical discourse analysis. Sage.
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (Eds.). (2009). Methods of critical discourse analysis (2nd ed.). Sage.
Wodak, R., de Cillia, R., Reisigl, M., & Liebhart, K. (2009). The discursive construction of national identity (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press.
Woodruff, K. (2019). Coverage of abortion in select U.S. newspapers. Women’s Health Issues, 29(1), 80–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2018.08.008
