Sisterhood vs Congregation: A study of two opposing social movements in the Norwegian abortion struggle 1970-1981

Abstract

This master thesis is an analysis of the Norwegian abortion struggle from the activists’ perspective. The collective mobilizations, arguments and strategies are examined through theories of social movements. It sets out as an examination on how historians have narrated this national event and attempts to bring a divided history back together. The women’s movement was able to push the demand for self-determined abortion into the national agenda and, through mobilizations in alliance with the socialist parties and medical activists, achieved self-determined abortion in 1978. On the other side, a Popular Action against Self- determined Abortion and opponents within the Church and the medical profession, in defence of the unborn child, were central in resisting a new abortion law in 1974 and influencing abortion laws in 1975 and 1978. This thesis attempts to critically bring the origins and actions of the two movements together and see how the activists organized themselves, how they networked and their repertoires of protests. The story highlights interrelations and dynamics between the two movements in the period from 1974-1979 before ending with the transformation of abortion opposition in the early 1980s