The abortion debate. Analysis of the arguments of liberals and conservatives

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the liberal and conservative arguments regarding abortion, which appeared in the Mexican press. The study was made based on ten journalistic texts (five liberals and five conser vatives) stemming from the discussion of the “Paulina Case†which was widely covered in the mass media during the year 2000. The analysis of the arguments indicates that the liberal and conservative points of view differ fundamentally in the way of conceiving abortion and legality, because whilst the former consider that abortion must remain legal in certain circumstances (such as when a pregnancy is the result of rape), the conservatives deny all possibility of it ever being legal. Another important difference is the central object of each discussion: the conservatives focus their attention on the fetus, whilst the nucleus of the liberal discourse is women. What is outstanding is the fact that the opposition of arguments between conservatives and liberals does not correspond to the people’s opinion. Therefore, what remains pending is to investigate how the general public manages to conciliate or adjust the arguments originating from both sides by accepting or rejecting the practice of abortion in specific circunstances.