Opposing abortion in a feminist paradise: Conservative rhetoric in Iceland

Abstract

This article addresses the conservative opposition to Iceland’s recently liberalised abortion laws. It argues that the opposition belongs to a long and rich history of conservatives willing to employ diverse measures to oppose progress. It further claims that the rhetoric employed has strong roots in the conservative tradition. This is demonstrated by the fact that the discourse in Iceland fits within Hirschman’s analytical framework, through which he analyses the main arguments of conservatives in the past. Icelandic conservatives argued that the proposed legislation would lead to the perverse effect that healthy foetuses would be aborted, that the legislation was futile, as the system was already well-functioning, and that it would jeopardise women by giving them the sole responsibility of deciding whether to terminate a pregnancy. The article sheds light on the underlying resistance to women’s bodily autonomy and right to self-determination. It also illustrates the importance of hierarchy and conservatism’s opposition to equality that is perceived to be taken too far. In light of global trends, where conservatives have tried to implement policies that are hostile towards women and women’s interests, it is important to explore national contexts where legislative success has been achieved despite global backlash.

Liberal-democratic norms under contestation: Norm relations and their decoupling in the US Supreme Court’s decisions on abortion

“…International human rights norms and global liberal norms shape domestic legislation on abortion (Boyle, Kim and Longhofer 2015;Fine, Mayall and Sepúlveda 2017). Likewise, domestic (particularly US) movements significantly influence global anti-abortion movements (Davis and Kaufman 2018;Sigvaldason and Ómarsdóttir 2022) to such an extent that 'global abortion rights [are] embedded in national democratic struggles over abortion' (Erdman 2016).…”

“…The right to abortion in particular is an important prerequisite for liberal-democratic norms regarding gender equality and women's full and equal participation in society (Sanders and Jenkins 2022a). By contrast, denying women the right to an abortion (or failing to implement such a right) is seen as a hallmark of more conservative, patriarchal and authoritarian regimes (Sigvaldason and Ómarsdóttir 2022). 1 This article therefore uses abortion rights as a case study to examine the backsliding of liberal-democratic norms more generally.…”