How Opposing Abortion Serves Populism

How does opposing abortion aid populism if antiabortionists are not themselves populists? This chapter argues that US antiabortion rhetoric, tactics, and policy reflect conventions of populist thinking and promote conditions in which the people feel – or are – entitled to take matters of law into their own hands. Examining movement artifacts and literature reveals how abortion foes were compelled to defy federal law before the fall of Roe v. Wade and are, after Roe, elevated as deputies of local government. Indeed, current antiabortion ordinances codify the populist logic promoted by activists once considered extreme. Eliminating the right to abortion means criminalizing those who obtain or provide abortions, and those who help them. Rightwing populism feeds off this criminalization of people who assert bodily autonomy and the right to travel for reproductive health care. Opposing abortion thus functions as a “populist helper,” like other anti-gender campaigns deployed around the world.