Framing the abortion debate: Public opinion and the manipulation of ambivalence.

Abstract

Central to the battle over abortion have been efforts by interest groups and other strategic actors to shape and mobilize public opinion. This study explores the interplay between mass opinion about abortion and elite efforts to frame the debate, and asks how each affects the other. Framing, I argue, is not just an effect, but a political strategy designed to influence public opinion and ultimately to reshape political conflict. I look at the framing process from the perspective of interest groups and their allies, who undertake sophisticated efforts to shape the terms of the abortion debate and rely heavily on public opinion research in doing so. Elites emphasize particular dimensions of the abortion conflict in seeking to mobilize supporters and to sway ambivalent citizens, a process I term the <italic>manipulation of ambivalence</italic>. I show that in turn, mass opinion---even on an issue as deeply rooted in fundamental values as abortion---is responsive to the ways in which elites frame the debate. At the heart of this study is a very simple idea, one with a long political science pedigree: Political actors on the losing side of a controversy will seek to expand the scope of the conflict, bringing new participants into the fray in an effort to alter the balance of forces and improve their political fortunes. This is precisely what elites at various points in the abortion conflict have attempted to accomplish through framing and the manipulation of ambivalence. I develop this theory and test a range of hypotheses using data from several sources: a series of in-depth interviews with pro-life and pro-choice elites, archival research, analyses of existing public opinion data, and my own telephone survey experiments. Ultimately, I argue that understanding the feedback between elite frames and public opinion is essential for understanding the ways in which political actors seek to define, redefine, and expand the scope of conflict.