The Abortion Narrative and the State: Creating a Complex Understanding

This paper explores the evolution of abortion metanarratives as negotiated between the state and its citizens from the 1950s into the 21^st century. Metanarratives—overarching, often morally weighted narrative frameworks into which individuals fit their stories—are integral to the history of reproductive rights. I build on the work of scholars such as Johanna Schoen, who discusses how and why abortion proponents frame the issue as “a moral good.”

Too often, state-level metanarratives treat abortion as a political or moral abstract and neglect the deeply personal and variegated histories that inform and reflect political, religious, ethical, and medical trends, beliefs, and practices. I argue for the centralization of individual histories within these narratives that ultimately undergird the passage of legislation. While there has been progress in story-sharing and de-stigmatization, there must be a stronger connection between primary historical sources and metanarratives promulgated by the state.

This paper parses this argument through oral histories collected under the Histories of Choice project. Now affiliated with local chapters of Planned Parenthood, which lobbies the Florida legislature directly, Histories of Choice started in January 2013 in response to a call by Linda Kerber to capture pre-Roe oral histories. Over three years, student volunteers in this ongoing multi-disciplinary project have interviewed women and men across three “generations.” Interviews cover pre-Roe abortions in the U.S. and Latin America up to 21^st century legal restrictions on American abortions. Our hope is that by historicizing a divisive issue, we may affect legislative change.