Abortion legalization in Uruguay: A media framing analysis

Authors

  • Inés Campanella Universidad de Barcelona

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS432010358

Keywords:

framing, discourse, civil society, mass media, sexual and reproductive rights.

Abstract

The demand for sexual and reproductive rights has been consolidated in recent years in Uruguay through the parliamentary vote on laws that include abortion legalization. The process has been driven by the continued action of civil groups, as well as by their ability to expand their social supports. The media dimension of the event has not been investigated yet. We analyze the behavior of the media around two instances of parliamentary vote, in 2004 and 2008, taking the news report as the unit of analysis. The hypothesis to verify assumes that civil society organizations in 2001-2004 implemented a common cognitive frame about legalization, with a strong base in the right to health. Based on this frame, they managed to influence the media framing of abortion legalization as a social problem, favorable to their interests. In the period that goes from 2005 to 2008, the civil society undergoes a process of disarticulation, which impacts in the fragmentation of the referred frame. This factor causes the legalization to be themed in the media as a political issue, missing the social aspect that it had gained in the previous period.

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Published

2010-10-03

How to Cite

Campanella, I. (2010). Abortion legalization in Uruguay: A media framing analysis. Observatorio (OBS*), 4(3). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS432010358

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 3 (2010)

Section

Articles

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