Abortion, incommunicability, and semiotic labor: Policing disciplinary boundaries through language ideological work among emergency nurses in a post‐Roe environment

Abstract Nurses working in emergency departments in the United States are increasingly managing obstetric emergencies, yet they receive no guidance from hospital administrators about how to adapt this care to the abortion bans that have recently become law in many states. Our interview‐based study explores reports of workplace communication about abortion among emergency nurses, which is constrained by an institutional language ideology prohibiting “political” talk. We trace how nurses respond to this prohibition through semiotic labor which nevertheless reinforces the boundary work that this language ideology maintains. Ultimately, this language ideology produces experiences of profound incommunicability for emergency nurses, isolating them from one another, negatively impacting their ability to care for their patients, and causing moral distress. In a time of rising authoritarianism and fascism, where talk about politics is both increasingly dangerous and vital to protect democracy, this study sheds light on the far‐reaching consequences of silencing political talk.