Mississippi State University Scholars Junction Theses and Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1-1-2014 Trauma as Evangelical Anti-Abortion Strategy: A Qualitative Study of Post Abortion Groups and the Personhood Amendment in Mississippi Jonelle Henry Husain Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td Recommended Citation Husain, Jonelle Henry, "Trauma as Evangelical Anti-Abortion Strategy: A Qualitative Study of Post Abortion Groups and the Personhood Amendment in Mississippi" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 4782. https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/4782 This Dissertation - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Scholars Junction. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholars Junction. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Automated Template A: Created by James Nail 2011 V2.02 Trauma as evangelical anti-abortion strategy: a qualitative study of post abortion groups and the personhood amendment in Mississippi By Jonelle H. Husain A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology in the Department of Sociology Mississippi State, Mississippi December 2014 Copyright by Jonelle H. Husain 2014 Trauma as evangelical anti-abortion strategy: a qualitative study of post abortion groups and the personhood amendment in Mississippi By Jonelle H. Husain Approved: ____________________________________ Jeralynn S. Cossman (Director of Dissertation) ____________________________________ Kimberly C. Kelly (Co-Director of Dissertation) ____________________________________ Nicole E. Rader (Graduate Coordinator/Committee Member) ____________________________________ John P. Bartkowski (Committee Member) ____________________________________ R. Gregory Dunaway Professor and Dean College of Arts & Sciences Name: Jonelle H. Husain Date of Degree: December 13, 2014 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: Sociology Major Professor: Drs. Jeralynn S. Cossman, Kimberly Kelly Title of Study: Trauma as evangelical anti-abortion strategy: a qualitative study of post abortion groups and the personhood amendment in Mississippi Pages in Study: 268 Candidate for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Post-abortion support groups are a new sub-movement or strategy of the broader anti-abortion movement that provide support to women who understand their prior abortions as problematic. These groups construct abortion as a form of trauma that causes post-abortion syndrome (PAS), a broad array of negative mental health and behavioral problems similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. Although these claims are not substantiated by empirical evidence, claims that abortion causes PAS are increasingly featured in the public domain to bolster national anti-abortion claims that abortion represents a public health issue. A majority of PAS support groups are offered by crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) affiliated with one of two national pregnancy resource centers whose approach to healing from abortion reflects the increased presence and influence of evangelical women in the CPC movement. The increased presence of evangelical women in the CPC movement is reflected in the growing influence of conservative Christian beliefs in the support services offered by CPCs in general and PAS groups specifically. This research examined a PAS group in Mississippi sponsored by an evangelical CPC affiliated with Care Net, a national pregnancy resource center, to understand the motivations of women who participate in a PAS group, how PAS group participation shapes participants’ understandings of abortion to conform to broader anti-abortion claims that abortion is a public health issue, and how PAS claims are diffused into the public domain. To discern the relationship between PAS groups and broader anti-abortion claims, I analyze state and national media coverage of the 2011 Mississippi political campaign in which voters overwhelmingly defeated a constitutional amendment to pass a personhood amendment to confer legal status to the fetus. Together these analyses show how evangelical groups are working through legislative and individual-level processes to shape the abortion debate and climate in contemporary American society. Key words: post-abortion syndrome, PAS, personhood DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this research to my mom, Rebecca Bufkin Phillips and my children, Banu and Chas Husain. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS No research is a solitary endeavor. This research is no different. There have been many people who have provided encouragement, support, and insightful critiques along the way. The end result would not have been possible without their help. I am deeply grateful to my dissertation Chair, Dr. Jeralynn S. Cossman, whose direction, mentoring, and guidance is unparalleled. You lifted me up, cheered me on, and held me to the highest of academic standards. Through your unselfish investment in me, you modeled the professionalism and dedication I strive to achieve each and every day. I also wish to thank my dissertation Co-Chair, Dr. Kimberly C. Kelly, for her support, guidance, and belief in this research from its infancy through its development and completion. I am also deeply grateful to my committee members, Dr. Nicole E. Rader, Dr. R. Gregory Dunaway, and Dr. John P. Bartkowski for your guidance and support. You never doubted me or questioned whether I would achieve this goal. Thank you. I am also deeply grateful for a circle of friends who sustained me, rallied around me when I hit the low points, and always believed in me. A special thanks to Dr. Liesel A. Ritchie, Dr. Duane Gill, Drs. Hussein and Margaret Shabka, Amanda Gochanour, Sarah Pellegrine, and Rachel Cannady. Each of you has played an integral role in my success and I am enriched by our friendship. I only hope that I can give back to each of you what you have so generously and freely given to me. I am a lucky woman indeed. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 Post-abortion syndrome .....................................................................................3 PAS and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder .......................................................6 PAS support groups ...........................................................................................9 Types of PAS Groups ................................................................................10 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................15 Evangelical Christianity as a Conservative Social Movement and a Conservative Religion ..........................................................................16 Evangelicals, Engaged Orthodoxy, and Anti-abortion Activism ...............21 Evangelical Christianity and Anti-abortion Activism................................23 History of PAS Groups ....................................................................................26 Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) ..............................................................27 PAS Groups and CPCs...............................................................................29 PAS and Evangelical Women ....................................................................30 National Leaders and Organizations ..........................................................31 PAS Claims and Public Discourse ...................................................................33 Medical and Scientific Response to PAS Claims ......................................35 Pro-Choice Responses to PAS Claims .......................................................36 PAS Groups as a Topic in Need of Scholarly Research ............................36 III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODS ...............................................38 Media Coverage in State Newspapers .............................................................44 Media Coverage in National Newspapers........................................................47 Retrieval of Articles .........................................................................................49 Coding Strategy ...............................................................................................49 iv Researcher Subjectivity ...................................................................................51 Theoretical Framing .........................................................................................53 Definition of Grounded Theory .................................................................55 Appropriateness of Grounded Theory for Qualitative Research ...............56 Conclusion .................................................................................................57 Significance of Study .......................................................................................59