Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

12-2003

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Sociology

Committee Chair

Busch, John A.

Subject

Pro-life movement--United States--Case studies; Rhetoric--United States; Abortion--United States

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to consider the significance of rhetoric used by pro-life social movement organizations to frame the experience of abortion and to label those women who have participated in that experience. The study explores how frames are devised and how these frames are applied so that reality is organized in such a manner as to appear aligned with the religious, moral, and/or philosophical position of the pro-life movement. The study uses pro-life web pages to obtain data; then, analyzes the data for emerging themes and content. The general tasks of framing such as agenda setting are analyzed through the frames discovered in the data. These tasks and frames are constructed as a typology that shows the interactions between the tasks and the ideologies.

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