Empowering women by regulating abortion? Conservative women lawmaker’s cooptation of feminist language in US abortion politics

ABSTRACT Conservative women in US state legislatures outpace their male colleagues in introducing anti-abortion policies. In doing so, they often frame anti-abortion policy standpoints in feminist terms. They assert abortion physically and emotionally damages women, and abortion providers fail to inform women. By centering women’s welfare, conservative women seek to enhance their representation, and wrest the mantle of being “pro-woman” from feminists. In this article, I analyse the use of feminist framing of anti-abortion bills by conservative women representatives. Their words signify a rise in the cooption of feminist language by conservative women and challenge the notion of representation.