The Good Wife

One of the more significant roadblocks that House of Cards power couple Frank and Claire Underwood experience during their political rise is an abrupt question posed to Claire during an interview. A past political opponent had accused her of having an abortion, and Claire chooses to confidently affirm the allegation. In fact, she had had three in her life, and one during her marriage, as she and Frank had made the choice not to have children. However, due to the social stigma and sensitivity surrounding abortion law in America, the Underwood campaign determined it would be politically expedient to false claim that Claire chose to get her lone abortion after she was raped during college.

This scandal mirrors a reality in American society, that the symbolic politics of abortion reveal that the conflict between many pro-choicers and pro-lifers lies in “larger ideological debates about maternity and female sexuality” (Markens 14). The traditional idea that the female identity is “solely based on motherhood” can be seen in some of the laws that pro-life advocates have pushed through state legislatures after Roe v. Wade granted states some autonomy in restricting abortion (Markens 14). Katrina Kimport argues that though these laws widely vary in their actual ability to impede women’s access to abortion care, they still “devalue women’s decision-making” and highlight how “law produces and reproduces gender” (16-17).

Such efforts from the pro-life to “oppose and chip away at legal abortion rights and access movement” underscore just how contentious the issue of abortion is in American politics (Rohlinger). But why exactly is the issue so contentious and salient? Rohlinger discusses abortion through the lens of increasing party polarity, as Tea Party Republicans represent the fierce pro-life movement while Democrats generally represent the pro-choice movement that is “struggling to regain lost rhetorical and legislative ground.” Drew Halfmann prescribes that the U.S.’s federalist system of government and powerful Supreme Court (which doesn’t take into account public opinion), among other factors, contributes to the disproportionate significance placed on abortion. In the U.S., state and local governments have more autonomy than in similar nations, and our elected officials are extremely beholden to special interest groups. All signs point to the reality that ” end of this morally charged political battle is not yet in sight” (Halfmann).

So, not only is abortion a symbolic issue that serves to perpetuate widely held gender norms and stereotypes, but the characteristics of the United States make it a unique environment that accentuates and exaggerates existing opinions on the issue. Even Claire Underwood, one of the most powerful women in America, can be torn down by the social perspectives of the public, whether or not they are fair.