Moving Beyond Consistency In 'Pro-Life' Attitudes: Frames and Typologies of Varying Life Ethics

The 'consistent ethic of life' notably advocated by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin is not an academic theory about attitude consistency, but is instead one particular expectation of moral discourse on a broad range of social, economic, and cultural issues. Within this perspective, a 'seamless garment' of life might serve as the defining ideological package that expresses a call to a certain 'life ethic,' with opposition to abortion as a frequent and nonnegotiable center of discourse. As such, this perspective is labeled by certain organizations to function as an ultimate grounding in implementing governmental policy and triggering individual-level attitude change. However, recent research finds limited evidence for a 'seamless garment' ideological package within U.S. Catholics, and unsurprisingly, much less evidence among the general population. Indeed, such a combination of attitudes challenges traditional understandings of conservative-liberal politics. The absence of adherence to 'seamless garment' ideals within any particular religious or social group raises questions of how individuals respond to advocacy of such ideological packages and pattern their attitudes towards often contentious issues such as abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, and suicide. This dissertation proceeds with two general questions regarding the promotion and prevalence of life ethics. First, how has the ideological package of 'pro-life' consistency been advocated outside the Catholic Church? I conduct a case study of the Seamless Garment Network, an organization committed to reframing what it means to be 'pro-life,' and demonstrate with qualitative discourse analysis the rhetorical frames and challenges associated with consistent life ethic advocacy. Second, how do individuals structure attitudes related to life issues? I conduct latent class analysis, examining the structures of attitudes related to life issues from 1977 to 2012 with nationally representative survey data. Findings from the qualitative discourse analysis demonstrate the challenges related to combining issues from the political left and right. Additionally, this case study outlines difficulties related to forming long-term coalitions among social movement organizations. Findings from the latent class analysis support previous research that suggests that individuals rarely structure attitudes in a 'consistent' or 'inconsistent' manner.