Politicized Issue in a Polarized Society: Comparing Law and Justice and  Civic Coalition Discourse on Abortion Rights in Poland

Since 2020 Poland has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, with the Law and Justice (PiS) government continuously diminishing women’s rights during their 2015-2023 ruling period. Therefore, as the Civic Coalition (KO) along with their coalition partners won the 2023 parliamentary elections, the hopes for overturning the trend were very high, considering how vocal the party was about strengthening women’s rights. In this context, the paper examines the differences in the PiS and KO discourse about abortion rights between 2015 and 2023. It argues that both parties instrumentalize women’s rights, which is investigated by using the Critical Discourse Analysis method. The analysed statements of the party politicians are categorized by time periods, which allows to distinguish discursive shifts, as well as, changing types of language, targeted audience and strategies. The results show that even though PiS and KO use different types of discourse, both parties...Show moreSince 2020 Poland has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, with the Law and Justice (PiS) government continuously diminishing women’s rights during their 2015-2023 ruling period. Therefore, as the Civic Coalition (KO) along with their coalition partners won the 2023 parliamentary elections, the hopes for overturning the trend were very high, considering how vocal the party was about strengthening women’s rights. In this context, the paper examines the differences in the PiS and KO discourse about abortion rights between 2015 and 2023. It argues that both parties instrumentalize women’s rights, which is investigated by using the Critical Discourse Analysis method. The analysed statements of the party politicians are categorized by time periods, which allows to distinguish discursive shifts, as well as, changing types of language, targeted audience and strategies. The results show that even though PiS and KO use different types of discourse, both parties instrumentalized women’s rights between 2015 and 2023. This implies that the crucial voice of female voters is often overused for political purposes, having a detrimental effect on women's rights.Show less

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Politicized Issue in a Polarized Society: Comparing Law and Justice and Civic Coalition Discourse on Abortion Rights in Poland