“The Call is [Also] Coming From Inside the House”: Abortion Narratives Differentially Predict Reproductive Justice Collective Action Even Among High Movement Identifiers

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of abortion narratives in predicting reproductive justice (RJ) collective action intentions, as well as to understand the psychological mechanisms that may explain this link. In doing so, we integrated a reproductive justice framework and sought to extend the social identity model of collective action to reproductive justice advocacy. Predominantly white, heterosexual participants were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions in which participants read an abortion narrative involving rape, consensual sex, or no written narrative, and were then assessed on outcome variables. Results revealed that, compared to participants in the control condition (i.e., no abortion narrative), participants in the abortion condition involving rape engaged in more RJ collective action intentions, which was explained by greater group-based anger and efficacy beliefs about the RJ movement. Compared to participants in the abortion condition involving consensual sex, those who read an abortion narrative involving rape reported greater group-based anger, which was then related to more RJ collective action intentions. Moreover, participants who more strongly identified as an RJ advocate and read the abortion narrative involving rape reported greater collective action intentions compared to their counterparts in the control and consensual conditions. These findings suggest that exposure to exceptionalized abortion narratives involving rape may predict greater RJ advocacy, even among those who more strongly identify as RJ advocates.