Framing of Abortion and Church-State Relations in Russian Orthodox Online Portals

Over the past two decades, clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church have found a new outlet for morality policy discussions: news portals, blogs, and other sites that comprise a virtual public sphere of Russian Orthodox online media. One prominent issue discussed herein is abortion in Russia, a subject that has spawned debates about possible regulation and prevention measures. This article analyzes statements regarding abortion made by clerics and others serving in the Russian Orthodox Church via Russian Orthodox online portals. Using typologies for framing strategies established through research of morality policy and church-state relations in Russia, this analysis will show that rational-instrumental frames were employed more frequently than religiously based or procedural arguments, and frames expressing affinity and disillusionment with the state were utilized more often than those evoking church-state symphony or anti-government disestablishment. In addition, it will shed light on framing strategies between online portals with varying degrees of proximity to the Moscow Patriarchate.

Public support for harm reduction: A population survey of Canadian adults

We described public views toward harm reduction among Canadian adults and tested a social exposure model predicting support for these contentious services, drawing on theories in the morality policy, intergroup relations, addiction, and media communication literatures. A quota sample of 4645 adults (18+ years), randomly drawn from an online research panel and stratified to match age and sex distributions of adults within and across Canadian provinces, was recruited in June 2018. Participants completed survey items assessing support for harm reduction for people who use drugs (PWUD) and for seven harm reduction interventions. Additional items assessed exposure to media coverage on harm reduction, and scales assessing stigma toward PWUD (α = .72), personal familiarity with PWUD (α = .84), and disease model beliefs about addiction (α = .79). Most (64%) Canadians supported harm reduction (provincial estimates = 60% - 73%). Five of seven interventions received majority support, including: outreach (79%), naloxone (72%), drug checking (70%), needle distribution (60%) and supervised drug consumption (55%). Low-threshold opioid agonist treatment and safe inhalation interventions received less support (49% and 44%). Our social exposure model, adjusted for respondent sex, household income, political views, and education, exhibited good fit and accounted for 17% of variance in public support for harm reduction. Personal familiarity with PWUD and disease model beliefs about addiction were directly associated with support (βs = .07 and -0.10, respectively), and indirectly influenced public support via stigmatized attitudes toward PWUD (βs = 0.01 and -0.01, respectively). Strategies to increase support for harm reduction could problematize certain disease model beliefs (e.g., “There are only two possibilities for an alcoholic or drug addict–permanent abstinence or death”) and creating opportunities to reduce social distance between PWUD, the public, and policy makers.

Comparative Abortion Law and Politics

Public debate rages around the world as to if and when a woman has a right to access abortion services. Though abortion policy has become more permissive over time in various places, there are still many countries with severe restrictions. The variety in state abortion policies at the state and regional levels reflects the different religious, cultural, and political attitudes toward this issue. Literature on this topic engages with larger theoretical debates within the study of public policy. That includes definitions of morality policy and determinants of feminist policy. Researchers continue to search for the ideal way to compare permissiveness of abortion policy in light of the extensive variation, conditions, and caveats that exist within abortion legislation. A number of variables, including female political representation, dominant religious groups in the country, and women’s movements have emerged as central correlates with permissiveness of abortion policy. The difference between de jure abortion law and de facto access also constitutes an important part of abortion policy research.

A Sin or a Health Issue? : Morality Policy Framing and the State of Harm Reduction in East-Central Europe

Aims. There are significant differences in harm reduction services availability and performance in various countries. The paper examines the state of one of the harm reduction interventions – needle exchange services – through the lenses of morality policy, attempting to establish possible relationships between policy framing and policy outcomes. Method. The research uses an explorative design with cross-country comparison. The unit of analysis is drug policy in a country, and the geographical scope includes Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, following the maximum variation case selection procedure. Countries’ drug strategies are analysed to identify the policy frames and data on needle exchange programmes are used to assess the state of harm reduction. Results. The analysis identified health and social drug policy framing in Czechia and Slovakia, morality frame in Hungary and no frame in Poland. The availability of availability and coverage of needle exchange programmes is the highest in Czechia, followed by Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. Conclusions. The Hungarian case confirms the relationship between morality framing and poor policy outcomes, while the Czech case between health framing and effective policy. Further research is needed to establish the function of morality framing as necessary and/or sufficient condition for unsatisfactory policy outcomes.

The Diffusion of Morality Policies

Through event history analysis and seemingly unrelated estimations, this study investigates the way in which diffusion of state-level legislation in the USA changes according to the varying degrees of morality policy characteristics it displays. The author finds that the magnitude of diffusion increases when policies reflect fewer characteristics of morality policy. Moreover, policies with high moral content diffuse when preceded by a bounded-learning process, information about which is heavily drawn from polities with similar moral attributes; learning about legislation with moderate and minimal characteristics of morality policy not only occurs selectively, but information is also retrieved from ideologically dissimilar polities, too.

LIFE ISSUES MATTER: CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE DISPUTE ON THE PRIMARY MORALITY POLICY IN POLAND

In recent decades regulation of issues like abortion, euthanasia, same-sex unions, etc, has become in Poland an area of highly emotional political conflicts, deeply dividing democratic society. At the same time, despite significant internal tensions, against the background of most other European countries Poland is an example of a country consistently upholding human life and family based on monogamous marriage. The main aim of the text is a discussion of the role of the Catholic Church in the dynamics of the discourse on primary morality policy in Poland on the example of the debate over the legalization of euthanasia and the debate over the legalization of in vitro procedures.

Formalism and realism as a style of judicial interpretation: theoretical-applicable aspect

The article is devoted to revealing the features of formalism and realism as styles of judicial interpretation. It is proved that the effective and enforceability of the law as a whole depends on the effective enforcement. Judicial enforcement is the last stage of enforcement as a whole. The court, through judicial enforcement, reveals the content of a rule of law in its course of action, completes it or establishes its true meaning through interpretation. It is argued that the use of formalism and realism as styles of judicial interpretation leads to the formation of two independent styles of justice. It is stated that, in the practical plane, the distinction between formalism and realism looks so that the judge should start from the written text of the act, applying the priority of the principle of legality. The will of the "author of the text" is also taken into account. Formalism, given the rapid nature of social relations and therefore the change in legal reality, is generally associated with the risk of making unfair judgments. Judicial realism, on the contrary, considers it possible for judges to appeal to considerations of morality, policy and the like. It is proved that a realistic approach is necessarily linked with voluntarism that exists in "hard" and "soft" forms. This gives you the opportunity to be a realistic approach, radical or moderate. If the judge is empowered to set the contents (meaning) of the text that is interpreted, it is absolutely arbitrary – arbitrary, that is, without any connection with the semantics of the text, then voluntarism is evident in "hard" form. Judicial realism is able to use strong arguments, and is therefore able to meet the requirements of justice and (or) the effective court decisions in the socio-economic and political circumstances change rapidly. Popular here is the application context of the application of the law. These approaches in the theory of law also called static and dynamic (one that fits right to life) ways of interpretation. At the same time, we must not forget about the possibility of a miscarriage of justice during the administration of justice. It is a properly defined legally significant circumstances in connection with this incorrect conclusion of the court made on the basis of given factual circumstances. A realistic approach is necessarily linked with voluntarism that exists in "hard" and "soft" forms. This gives you the opportunity to be a realistic approach, radical or moderate. If the judge is empowered to set the contents (meaning) of the text that is interpreted, it is absolutely arbitrary – arbitrary, that is, without any connection with the semantics of the text, then voluntarism is evident in "hard" form. Example of rigid forms of realism may be the use of judicial discretion when the court and not the legislator is actually created a new rule of conduct. Key words: judicial interpretation, judicial enforcement, formalism, realism, styles judicial interpretation, voluntarism.

Religious influence in policy-making: a case of sexual education in Lithuania

The Lithuanian Ministry of Education adopted the sexual education and preparation for family life policy in 2016. Policy formulation stage became the centre of the conflict between secular reproductive health and sex education activists and religious civil society organizations as well as Lithuanian Catholic Church which exerts its informal political power and utilizes institutional opportunity structures in various stages of policy-making. These groups clashed not only in the chambers of the Lithuanian Parliament, but also in the media. Competing discourses were created and maintained in various public spaces. Non-governmental human rights organizations have tried to counter the discourse of oppositional conservative and religious political actors and actively participated in policy formulation, but these attempts did not prevent the Ministry of Education from adopting a family and abstinence-oriented sex education which favours religious values. This paper seeks to understand religious influence in sexual education policy formation in Lithuania. I utilize public media reports and anonymous in-depth interviews with various relevant actors involved. This case study also enriches theoretical literature on informal institutions and institutional opportunity structures in relation to religious actors influence in morality policy-making.

The Politicization of Women’s Health and Wellbeing

The framers and advocates of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals face a unique challenge when it comes to the goals of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, good health and wellbeing, as it concerns women’s health. The health of women, and in particular reproductive rights, have been politicized in the work of the UN. Forums of the UN have become a battleground between those who would frame reproductive rights as a morality policy versus those who frame them as a feminist policy. This problem is not new to the organization’s work. Indeed, it has been a challenge to the UN’s ability to promote women’s health for years. This article explores how the framing of women’s reproductive rights poses a unique challenge to implementing some of the goals of SDG3, and in particular targets 3.1, 3.7, and 3.8. It also offers strategies to surmount the challenge with an example of a different intergovernmental organization that managed to overcome this issue.