America's Partisan Polarization: How the Abortion Debate is Impacting American Foreign Policy and How China is Trying to Benefit from this

The debate around the issue of abortion rights is not new in American politics. However, in recent years American politics has been polarized along partisan lines. This is also the case in the abortion rights debate. The abortion rights debate has an effect on policy making in U.S. politics. Abortion rights also play a role in foreign policy making. Under the Trump Presidency, the Mexico City Policy was reinstalled and even further strengthened, entailing that no government funds were allowed to be given to actors that provide or promote abortions. Republicans, after years of supporting the initiative, now also threaten to defund PEPFAR, the successful initiative that has saved millions of lives in the fight against HIV/AIDS. They threaten to do this since they claim that the program funds abortion services. This thesis investigates and reveals the impact that this partisan polarization on the abortion rights issue has on American foreign policy and therefore on the United States’...Show moreThe debate around the issue of abortion rights is not new in American politics. However, in recent years American politics has been polarized along partisan lines. This is also the case in the abortion rights debate. The abortion rights debate has an effect on policy making in U.S. politics. Abortion rights also play a role in foreign policy making. Under the Trump Presidency, the Mexico City Policy was reinstalled and even further strengthened, entailing that no government funds were allowed to be given to actors that provide or promote abortions. Republicans, after years of supporting the initiative, now also threaten to defund PEPFAR, the successful initiative that has saved millions of lives in the fight against HIV/AIDS. They threaten to do this since they claim that the program funds abortion services. This thesis investigates and reveals the impact that this partisan polarization on the abortion rights issue has on American foreign policy and therefore on the United States’ image and influence in Africa. Furthermore, this research investigates China’s efforts to benefit from America’s impacted foreign policy by the abortion rights discussion. This thesis indeed reveals that the United States’ image and influence in Africa is negatively impacted by the partisan polarized abortion debate in American politics and that China is actively using its propaganda apparatus to portray the United States as hypocritical and unreliable and China as the better alternative.Show less

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America's Partisan Polarization: How the Abortion Debate is Impacting American Foreign Policy and How China is Trying to Benefit from this