Thematic analysis reveals strategic reframing of feminist rhetoric across Fox News articles on Dobbs, suggesting intentional tactics to legitimize anti-abortion stances and erase feminist arguments.
The June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision, which leaked to the public in May 2022, overturned precedent which had provided federal protections for abortion access. News media in the US mobilized tabloid style reporting to cover the heated political moment and its aftermath. To understand the discursive and political work at play, our study asks how does Fox News construct Dobbs and what rhetoric does it mobilize in its reporting? We used an approach inspired by critical thematic analysis to analyze a sample of 160 articles collected from the Fox News website published between May 2 2022 and the end of the year. We found four key themes in Fox’s portrayal of Dobbs: (1) Fox News as the authority on abortion and Dobbs; (2) Dobbs as progressive, Roe as antiquated; (3) Dobbs supporters as charitable caregivers; and (4) Dobbs vs. the economy in the midterm elections. These themes illustrate Fox’s use of strategic rearticulation to generate support for right-wing politics and invisibilize feminist arguments
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Carson et al. (2026) studied this question.
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