2014 John McMenemy Prize

Winner: Paul Saurette and Kelly Gordon

Arguing Abortion: The New Anti-Abortion Discourse in Canada, Canadian Journal of Political Science 46:1

Excerpt from jury report: The nature of contemporary anti-abortion discourse in Canada is the topic of this original and fascinating analysis by Paul Saurette and Kelly Gordon. Using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, Saurette and Gordon demonstrate that there is a new anti-abortion rhetoric changing our Canadian cultural landscape. The research moves far beyond traditional accounts providing evidence that the new discourse frames abortion as anti-woman thus supplanting traditional fetal personhood perspectives. This paper would find a home on a number of syllabi, in courses on media and politics, women and law, gender studies and public policy and it substantively changes our understanding of how anti-abortion lobbyists are operating in this contentious policy field.