The History of the Family· 2026Q1
Anti-abortion activism in Catholic Europe (1970s–present)
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- 2026year
Short summary
This special issue reorients research on anti-abortion activism from the US to four European countries (Belgium, Ireland, Poland, Spain) with significant Catholic influence.
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Key points
- Research on anti-abortion activism has historically centered on the United States.
- This issue examines activism in Belgium, Ireland, Poland, and Spain from the 1970s to the present.
- The analysis employs gender and generation as primary lenses.
- The collection discusses challenges in archival research for anti-abortion movements.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
By examining the histories of anti-abortion activism in Belgium, Ireland, Poland, and Spain, the special issue ‘Anti-abortion activism in Catholic Europe (1970s–present)’ reorients away from the principal focus of most research on ‘pro-life’ activism: in historical scholarship, the United States undoubtedly stands as the geographic and symbolic center of the global ‘pro-life’ movement. The contributions to this special issue explore contemporary histories of anti-abortion activisms in four European countries with diverse political regimes, in which the majority of citizens are Catholic and the Catholic Church exerts extensive political and social influence. After summarizing existing literature on the history of ‘pro-life’ movements, we discuss the main analytical lenses that have informed this collection: gender and generation. We also reflect on gaps in the literature, source availability, and methodological issues that arise when constructing the ‘anti-abortion’ archive, before outlining the contributions to this special issue.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. The History of the Family, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: History
HistoryArts and Humanities