Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America

Deana A. Rohlinger

Dec 2014 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

Weaving together analyses of archival material, news coverage, and interviews conducted with journalists from mainstream and partisan outlets as well as with activists across the political spectrum, Deana A. Rohlinger re-imagines how activists use a variety of mediums, sometimes simultaneously, to agitate for - and against - legal abortion. Rohlinger's in-depth portraits of four groups - the National Right to Life Committee, Planned Parenthood, the National Organization for Women, and Concerned Women for America - illuminates when groups use media and why they might choose to avoid media attention altogether. Rohlinger expertly reveals why some activist groups are more desperate than others to attract media attention and sheds light on what this means for policy making and legal abortion in the twenty-first century.

About the author

Deana A. Rohlinger is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and a research associate at the Pepper Institute of Aging and Public Policy at Florida State University. She is co-editor of the volumes Media, Movements, and Political Change and Strategies for Social Change. She is also the author of several book chapters and of articles published in journals such as Social Problems, Sociological Theory, Mobilization, The Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Spectrum, Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, American Behavioral Scientist, the Journal of Women and Aging, and Social Movement Studies. She is currently the section editor for the Social Movements section of Sociology Compass and the book review editor for Mobilization: An International Journal. She also serves on the American Sociological Association's Collective Behavior Social Movement Council; the membership committee of the Society for the Study of Social Problems; and the editorial boards of American Sociological Review, Social Problems, and American Behavioral Scientist.