Gender and Congressional Voting on Reproductive Health and Rights

Suzanne Petroni, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)

The United States has been a leader in the international population arena for five decades, but the domestic policy debate around international population and reproductive health issues has been increasingly characterized by politicization and partisanship. The Mexico City Policy (MCP) provides a concrete example through which to study this growing divide. I undertook a content analysis of every congressional floor debate on the MCP since 1995 to understand: 1) how the gender and party affiliation of members of Congress have influenced their support for international reproductive health, and 2) the tone of discourse employed by male and female, Democratic and Republican members, when speaking and voting on the MCP. I find evidence of a growing partisan divide around these issues in both voting and speaking patterns. Among other findings of potential use to advocates, I conclude that female members engage more frequently and more positively on international family planning than do their male counterparts.