This edited collection examines various aspects of the explosive abortion issue in the United States and Canada. In both countries, decisions of the national supreme court have made access to legal abortion easier than had previously been the case. This volume looks at the aftermath of Roe v. Wade in the U.S. and Morgantaler v. Regina in Canada. Individual chapters deal with the rhetoric of public discourse, public opinion at the mass level, political reasoning on the part of religious and pro-life activists, and the role of religion in political socialization on the abortion issue. Methodologically, the volume includes survey research, content analysis, participant observation, and political theory. The list of contributors includes some of the leading political scientists and sociologists working in the field.

This collection brings together for the first time the key primary documents in the history of the abortion controversy in the United States. Organized by historical period, these 92 documents tell the story of this highly charged issue. An explanatory introduction geared to the needs of high school and college students accompanies each document. The collection emphasizes the political and social aspects of the debate, and many voices and conflicting views resound--in congressional hearings, Supreme Court decisions, government reports, party platforms, position papers, statutes, biographical accounts, and news stories. The heart of the work is the drama of Roe v. Wade--the cases that led to it, the Supreme Court decision and dissenting opinions, the reaction in Congress, public opinion, political consequences, and the most recent court tests.

The work is divided into five sections: Part I covers the historical period from its European inception until the beginning of the reform movement in the United States in the 1960s. Part II looks at the developments in 1960-1972 that led to the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973. Part III focuses on Roe v. Wade and the reaction to the decision. Part IV, The Battlelines Are Drawn, 1974-1980, describes the political battles over abortion in the 1970s. Part V includes documents from the Reagan/Bush administrations and ends with the beginning of the Clinton administration in 1993. Each chapter includes a list of suggested readings. The book concludes with a chronology of events in the abortion controversy and a list of decisions of the United States Supreme Court relating to abortion. The collection will be especially useful for high school, junior college, and college students, and for public libraries.

Sachdev provides a detailed examination of the psychological responses of women who have had abortions. The author surveyed a sample of unmarried women aged 18 to 25 who had had abortions during the past six months to one year. Based on in-depth interviews with these women, the study presents quantitative and qualitative findings. While some authors have stressed the negative psychological impact of abortion, Sachdev demonstrates that the majority of women in his study were comfortable with their decisions and experienced few adverse psychological reactions. Impressively researched, this insightful study persuasively refutes claims and myths such as: --women are increasingly using abortion as their primary method of contraception --the abortion experience is more traumatic than giving up a newborn infant for adoption --unrestrictive abortions encourage irresponsible sex --sex education and the ready availability of contraceptive devices encourage sexual experimentation --unmarried women get pregnant because they want to for some "underlying motives" --most unmarried abortees experience pathological guilt and depression following abortion surgery --abortions performed in hospitals are therapeutic and emotionally healthy The volume begins with a look at the abortion controversy in North America. The following chapter presents general information on the psychological effects of abortion. Sachdev then discusses his research methodology in detail, and through the chapters that follow he records and analyzes the attitudes and experiences of the women interviewed. The study includes information on the sexual activity and contraceptive history of the participants, their reaction to theirbecoming pregnant, the factors that persuaded them to have an abortion, and their experiences after the surgery. Unique features of this book: * provides an engaging and thorough account of the author's extensive interviews with women who have had an abortion * examines the sexual activity, the pregnancy, and abortion experience of unmarried women in the context of their social networks, i.e., peers, parents, male partners, siblings, an important aspect largely neglected in previous studies * the author integrates his findings with a broad survey of relevant literature * written in a lucid, crisp, and engaging style that captures the women's most vivid and intimate experiences in sex relations, and with pregnancy and abortion * based on a carefully selected sample of women, Sachdev breaks new ground in many areas, including the role of male partners, doctors and nurses, and of the hospital milieu in shaping the women's responses to pregnancy and abortion * integrates in a unique way pragmatic policy advice along with applied research

"An important work on a monumental subject." —Anna Quindlen, New York Times Book Review

On profound questions of birth, death, and human choice that are raised by abortion—where opposing sides see no common ground—how can the conflict be managed? The abortion debate in the United States today involves all Americans in complex questions of sex and power, historical change, politics, advances in medicine, and competing social values. In this best-selling book, an eminent constitutional authority shows how the nation has struggled with these questions and then sets forth new approaches that reflect both sides' passionately held convictions. The paperback edition includes discussion of the latest court decisions and excerpts from the major cases, including the Supreme Court's landmark June 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

"A wide-ranging book about the controversy by a brilliant scholar and teacher of constitutional law. . . . Tribe offers a dazzling array of arguments and approaches. . . . Tribe's final approach to abortion, an informative discussion of new contraceptive and procreative technologies, holds out the hope of transcending the conflict rather than finding the common ground among its current parties." —Amy Gutmann, The New Republic

"A marvelously thoughtful guide to all facets of the current abortion controversy. . . . Makes constructive suggestions for bridging the gulf that separates the sides in the too-polarized abortion debate. . . . Professor Tribe's thoughtful analysis will deepen your understanding both of your own position and that of others." —Nadine Strossen, president, American Civil Liberties Union

"Wise and powerful. . . . Intelligent people will not only learn something helpful from [this] book, they will also be able to read it. . . . The book is more than lucid: it is vibrant with ethical passion." —Nelson W. Aldrich, Jr., New England Monthly

"Important. . . . Tackles the conflicts of the abortion issue in a rational and humane manner. . . . Tribe explains in a clear, conversational style the many changes in abortion law—and the pressures that continue to build behind the scenes on each side of the 'life vs. liberty' controversy." —San Francisco Chronicle

How the deeply divisive abortion controversy has played out on state and national levels during the past two decades provides an illustrative portrait, even if in some ways a disappointing reflection, of the operation of American government and politics. In Abortion and American Politics, Barbara H. Craig and David M. O'Brien tell the story of this explosive social issue, from the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, through the years of grass-roots activism and public debate that led to the de-turning 1989 decision in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services and to the no less controversial 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Against the background of ambiguities of public opinion polls, the authors trace the strategic maneuvering of interest groups in bringing litigation and in pushing for legislation and executive action. And they underscore the prospects for further changes in the national debate over abortion with the Clinton administration's policies and its judicial appointees. Without attempting to resolve the abortion controversy or to advocate one or another position, Craig and O'Brien present a comprehensive analysis of the complex interaction of interest groups, the states, the courts, Congress, and the president and the executive branch. As a case study of institutional conflict over public policy, Abortion and American Politics demonstrates the enduring vitality of the Founders' vision of a system of constitutional politics that allows for incremental change as a means to ensure stability in the face of unyielding social controversy.

This book couldn't be more welcome, more timely. It takes an overlooked position, that abortion is not the lesser of two evils but a positive turning point in many women's lives. In addition to absorbing countless studies, Lunneborg talked with more than 100 women who have had abortions as well as with health care workers and counselors. She found that most women do not regret their decision. Many found it to be a key reassessment point in their lives: they looked at the directions their lives were heading, their relationships, their attitudes toward their bodies, their methods of birth control, and they made significant changes. Although definitely prochoice, Lunneborg's effort balances antichoice propaganda that paints women who have abortions as irresponsible and selfish, for the women Lunneborg presents are thoughtful and articulate....Lunneborg says she wrote the book to help women through the abortion decision-making process and to give health care workers and counselors more information when working with patients. But really, it ought to be required reading for anyone embroiled in an abortion debate. " Booklist"

The first book to focus on abortion decision making, this self-help counseling resource takes a decidedly positive stance. Challenging the view that abortion is the lesser of two evils, Patricia Lunneborg maintains that it is moral, life-enhancing, supportive to families, and beneficial to the lives of millions of women. Opposing public opinion that abortion is acceptable only in special cases, she contends that the best reason to have an abortion is simply the desire not to bear an unwanted child. Bashing the concept of the so-called Postabortion Stress Syndrome, she reports positive aftereffects such as feelings of relief, a new sense of control over one's life, and increased maturity. Lunneborg, a retired professor of psychology and women's studies, bases her views on over 100 interviews with women who have had abortions and with abortion providers, as well as research findings and her own experiences. What's more, in these pages she allows women who have had abortions to share what they learned about themselves, how their dreams for education and career were positively affected, how the children they chose to have are benefiting from their decision. Perhaps most important, many of the women tell of tremendous personal growth resulting from making a considered choice to have an abortion--for some, their first major decision.

Clearly stating her perspective at the outset, Lunneborg describes those who have abortions--women of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, and walks of life--and who provides the procedure. She offers strategies for making the decision, discusses teenage situations, explains how to use the experience as an opportunity for reassessment and growth, and stresses the value of talking about abortion--both for women who have had the procedure and for other people who are often unaware of the positive effects. A complete presentation, her book also sheds light on counseling before and after an abortion, contraception, family planning, the impact on education and careers, effects on relationships with others, and the work of the dedicated group of people who provide abortions. Throughout, Lunneborg's tone is conversational, warm, easy to read. Indispensable for any woman considering the procedure, Abortion: A Positive Decision also provides invaluable help to women who seek a reaffirming view of past abortion decisions, psychotherapists and counselors, and those who provide abortion services.

This book represents the first compilation for pro-choice and pro-life issues into one annotated publication. Richard Fitzsimmons and Joan P. Diana provide an objective, comprehensive listing of all periodical and monographic publications on pro-choice and pro-life issues between 1972 and 1989. The items listed are widely accessible in public, academic, and school libraries, and offer students, teachers, lawyers, theologians, researchers, and the layperson the tools to reach an informed opinion on the subject. Fitzsimmons and Diana list all materials fitting parameters of reserach in the ethical, legal, moral, religious, and social arenas. Items reflecting the positions of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life movements, and the Respect for Life/Right to Life movement are included. It is a selected bibliography in that it excludes articles dealing with methods of contraception and abortion, clinic bombings, euthanasia, and exclusively medical issues in favor of items dealing directly with the pro-choice/pro-life debate. Presented in standard Modern Language Association (MLA) bibliographical format, this book is a useful reference tool for students. scholars, and professionals of psychology, sociology, population studies, religion, law, and civil liberties.

This handbook discusses 33 nations in terms of abortion's legal status, development of the policy, availability of contraception and abortion services, abortion rates, fertility trends, and the demographic/socioeconomic profiles of affected women. The amount of data consolidated in one volume is prodigious, providing information not readily available in any other single source. . . . In terms of policies and data, the book is excellent. "Library Journal"

This unique work assembles in a single volume data from several continents on the general pattern of legal activity pertaining to abortion, as well as service delivery, the incidence of abortion, and the profile of aborting women. Each of the thirty-three essays in the Handbook surveys in depth the historical development of abortion policy; the role of the medical profession, news media, religious and women's organizations, and other groups in legislative enactments; and demographic data concerning women who seek abortions. Also dealt with are the relation between abortion, fertility behavior, and family planning policy and programs; the incidence of, complications from, and morbidity as a result of illegal abortions; and abortion research.

"Women, Society, the State, and Abortion" takes an unbiased look at the abortion issue, examining it from a cross-disciplinary perspective comprising history, politics, law, biology, philosophy, theology, and medicine. Through application of a structuralist method of analysis, the author looks beneath the surface to determine what the real abortion controversy is all about. This insightful volume will be of interest to public officials and administrators at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as to health, education, and social service personnel who work in and around the abortion issue.

This work provides the first broadly based documentation and analysis of the evolution of abortion from criminal act to personal choice. The author places the abortion question in the wider context of change in the social realm and in law, politics, economics, and medical practice. Dealing with the confrontation between pro-life and pro-choice groups, Davis analyzes feminist interpretations of abortion reform and discusses efforts to create a human-centered procedure that will benefit women themselves rather than doctors or clinic managers. Other important issues covered include the historical inconsistency of abortion laws and their enforcement; social and institutional support systems before and after legalization; social policy and abortion; the effects of legalized abortion on women's kinship ties; the Equal Rights Amdendment; and biological politics.

In this brave and devastatingly beautiful anthology, the illustrious poet and editor Aracelis Girmay gathers complex and intimate pieces that illuminate the nuances of personal and collective histories, analyses, practices, and choices surrounding pregnancy. Featuring the brilliant voices of writers such as Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, Patricia Smith, Elizabeth Alexander, and more, this book is a lighthouse-a tool and companion-for those navigating pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage, birth, loss, grief, and love. In So We Can Know: Writers of Color on Pregnancy, pieces range from essays to poems to interviews, with a broad entanglement of various themes, from many different perspectives including Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, and more. At a time when people are becoming more and more limited in their choices surrounding pregnancy and abortion, this record is increasingly urgent and indispensable.

We are now more than thirty years away from the Supreme Court case of Roe v Wade, yet the controversy over abortion has not diminished. Although the 'pro-choice' forces increasingly acknowledge the central claim of the 'pro-life' side -- that abortion is a morally portentous act -- they continue to insist that the well-being of women is absolutely dependent on the legal right to abortion. The twelve essays in The Costs of 'Choice', all written by women active in the public square, dispute this claim. These authors argue that over the last three decades, legal abortion has had harmful effects on women -- socially, medically, psychologically and culturally. reaction she experienced when she 'chose' to carry to term a child with Down syndrome, and she argues that a widespread acceptance of eugenic abortion has made us see what is a moral issue in narrow cost/benefit terms. Dr Angel Lanfranchi, co-founder of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, presents evidence supporting a link between induced abortion and increased risk of breast cancer. spiritually affected the lives of women she has treated. Including essays by eminent figures such as Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and Elizabeth Fox Genovese, Eleonore Raoul Professor of the Humanities at Emory University, The Cost of 'Choice' captures the moral, legal, medical and political complexities surrounding abortion. Agree or disagree, the reader will concur that the gravity that should accompany any discussion of this difficult subject is fully on display in this insightful and instructive book.

After forty years of protest and debate, we all know one thing for certain about abortion: it's a women's issue, right?
Wrong, says Brian Fisher in his groundbreaking book "Abortion: The Ultimate Exploitation of Women." In it he reveals long-forgotten or never-known facts to show that abortion is very much a man's concern--and it's part of a long and tragic pattern of men oppressing women. Which is why the original author of the Equal Rights Amendment, feminist Alice Paul, called abortion the "ultimate exploitation of women."
Fisher shows that a select group of compassionate men led the way in the nineteenth century to pass laws strengthening the criminalization of abortion--and worked with feminists of that era to do so. But it was men, not women, who drove the campaign that led to the 1973 Supreme Court ruling giving women an unqualified right to end the lives of their unborn children.
So what's in it for men? As feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon observes, abortion "does not liberate women; it frees male sexual aggression." Abortion is the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card for men with non-committal sex lives. Another agenda is at work as well. Men use abortion to advance their racist, eugenic, and population control dreams and schemes, as Fisher shows, citing their own words.
If men gave us abortion, men can end it as well. Fisher outlines why and how, and he urges men to take up the task with courageous women. He lays out a five-point plan for men to "with humility, faithfulness, and relentless perseverance, commit our time, resources, energy, heart, and testimony to ending abortion in America for the sake of women, men, and the family."

Focusing on texts from the late 1970s to the 1990s which document both changing attitudes to terminations of pregnancy and dramatic environmental, medical, and socio-political developments during southern Africa's liberation struggles, this book examines how four writers from Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe address the ethics of abortion and reproductive choice. Viewing recent fiction through the lens of new materialist theory - which challenges conventional, individual-based notions of human rights by asserting that all matter holds agency - this book argues that southern African women writers anticipate and exceed current feminist revivals of materialist thought. Not only do the authors question contemporary discourse framing abortion as either a confirmation of a woman's 'right to choose' or an unethical termination of human life, but they challenge conventional understandings of development, growth, and time. Through close readings of both literal gestation in the selected texts and the metaphorical reproduction of the post/colonial nation, this study advances the concept of reproductive agency, creating a range of queer ecocritical alternatives to tropes such as those of 'the Mother Country', 'Mother Africa', or 'the birth of a nation'. This study situates abortion narratives by Wilma Stockenstroem (translated by J. M. Coetzee), Zoe Wicomb, Yvonne Vera, and Bessie Head alongside contemporary postcolonial feminist theories, melding traditional beliefs with materialist views to reconsider the future of reproductive health matters in southern Africa. Merging queer ecocritical perspectives from materialism and postcolonialism, this study will appeal to students and researchers in the medical humanities, new materialisms, and postcolonial studies.

In Challenging Pregnancy, Genevieve Grabman recounts being pregnant with identical twins whose circulatory systems were connected in a rare condition called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Doctors couldn't "unfuse" the fetuses because one twin also had several other confounding problems: selective intrauterine growth restriction, a two-vessel umbilical cord, a marginal cord insertion, and, possibly, a parasitic triplet. Ultimately, national anti-abortion politics-not medicine or her own choices-determined the outcome of Grabman's pregnancy. At every juncture, anti-abortion politics limited the care available to her, the doctors and hospitals willing to treat her, the tools doctors could use, and the words her doctors could say. Although she asked for aggressive treatment to save at least one baby, hospital ethics boards blocked all able doctors from helping her. Challenging Pregnancy is about Grabman's harrowing pregnancy and the science and politics of maternal healthcare in the United States, where every person must self-advocate for the desired outcome of their own pregnancy.

This book examines how legislators have juggled their passions over abortion with standard congressional procedures, looking at how both external factors (such as public opinion) and internal factors (such as the ideological composition of committees and party systems) shape the development of abortion policy. Driven by both theoretical and empirical concerns, Scott H. Ainsworth and Thad E. Hall present a simple, formal model of strategic incrementalism, illustrating that legislators often have incentives to alter policy incrementally. They then examine the sponsorship of abortion-related proposals as well as their committee referral and find that a wide range of Democratic and Republican legislators repeatedly offer abortion-related proposals designed to alter abortion policy incrementally. Abortion Politics in Congress reveals that abortion debates have permeated a wide range of issues and that a wide range of legislators and a large number of committees address abortion.

The book examines the history of abortion and contraception in Modern Greece from the time of its creation in the 1830s to 1967, soon after the Pill became available. It situates the history of abortion and contraception within the historiography of the fertility decline and the question of whether the decline was due to adjustment to changing social conditions or innovation of contraceptive methods. The study reveals that all methods had been in use for other purposes before they were employed as contraceptives. For example, Greek women were employing emmenagogues well before fertility was controlled; they did so in order to 'put themselves right' and to enhance their fertility. When they needed to control their fertility, they employed abortifacients, some of which were also emmenagogues, while others had been used as expellants in earlier times. Curettage was also employed since the late nineteenth century as a cure for sterility; once couples desired to control their fertility curettage was employed to procure abortion. Thus couples did not need to innovate but rather had to repurpose old methods and materials to new birth control methods. Furthermore, the role of physicians was found to have been central in advising and encouraging the use of birth control for 'health' reasons, thus facilitating and speeding fertility decline in Greece. All this occurred against the backdrop of a state and a church that were at times neutral and at other times disapproving of fertility control.

This book offers a political, ideological, and social history of the national right-to-life movement in the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan. It analyzes anti-abortion engagement with the legislative, judicial, and executive branches, and offers what is frequently a narrative of disappointment and factionalism. The chapters explore pro-life responses to Supreme Court vacancies, attempts to pass a constitutional amendment, and broader legislative and bureaucratic strategies, including successful campaigns against international and domestic family planning programs. The book suggests that the 1980s transformed the anti-abortion cause, limiting the types of ideas and approaches possible at a national level. Although the movement later claimed Reagan as a "pro-life hero," while he was President right-to-lifers continuously struggled with the gap between his words and deeds. They also had a fraught relationship with the broader Republican Party. This book charts the political education of right-to-lifers, offering insights into social movement activism and conservatism in the late twentieth century.

This book reframes the Irish abortion narrative within the history of women's reproductive health and explores the similarities and differences that shaped the history of abortion within the two states on the island of Ireland. Since the legalisation of abortion in Britain in 1967, an estimated 200,000 women have travelled from Ireland to England for an abortion. However, this abortion trail is at least a century old and began with women migrating to Britain to flee moral intolerance in Ireland towards unmarried mothers and their offspring. This study highlights how attitudes to unmarried motherhood reflected a broader cultural acceptance that morality should trump concerns regarding maternal health. This rationale bled into social and political responses to birth control and abortion and was underpinned by an acknowledgement that in prioritising morality some women would die.

The landmark decision R. v. Morgentaler (1988) struck down Canada's abortion law and is widely believed to have established a right to abortion, but its actual impact is much less decisive. In After Morgentaler, Rachael Johnstone examines the state of abortion access in Canada today and argues that substantive access is essential to full citizenship for women. Using case studies, Johnstone assesses the role of both state and non-state actors in shaping access. This book affirms the need to recognize abortion as an issue fundamentally tied to women's equality, while stressing the utility of rights claims to improve access.

Bioethical Prescriptions collects F.M. Kamm's articles on bioethics, which have appeared over the last twenty-five years and which have made her among the most influential philosophers in this area. Kamm is known for her intricate, sophisticated, and painstaking philosophical analyses of moral problems generally and of bioethical issues in particular. This volume showcases these articles - revised to eliminate redundancies - as parts of a coherent whole. A substantive introduction identifies important themes than run through the articles. Section headings include Death and Dying; Early Life (on conception and use of embryos, abortion, and childhood); Genetics and Other Enhancements (on cloning and other genetic technologies); Allocating Scarce Resources; and Methodology (on the relation of moral theory and practical ethics).