Few issues in contemporary U.S. politics have remained on the
public agenda so long and so divisively as abortion policy. The
landmark Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade, which held that
laws prohibiting first trimester abortions were illegal because
they violated a woman's right to privacy, still generates heated
controversy today, a quarter of a century after it was made. The
seeds of that controversy were sown in the seven years immediately
preceding Roe, when state legislatures tried to reconcile religious
opposition to abortion and individuals' civil liberties.
In this groundbreaking book, Rosemary Nossiff examines the
forces that shaped abortion policy during those years, and the ways
in which states responded to them. To provide in-depth analysis
while still looking broadly at the picture, she studies New York,
which passed the most permissive abortion bill in the country, and
Pennsylvania, which passed one of the most restrictive. That these
two states, which share similar demographic, political, and
economic characteristics, should reach two such different outcomes
provides a perfect case study for observing political dynamics at
the state level.
Nossiff examines the medical, religious, and legal discourses
employed on both sides of the debate, as well as the role played by
feminist discourse. She looks at the role of the political parties
in the campaigns, as well as such interest groups as the National
Council of Catholic Bishops, the Clergy Consultation Service, the
National Organization for Women, and the National Association for
the Repeal of Abortion Laws. In addition, she analyzes the
strategies used by both sides, as well as partisan and
institutionaldevelopments that facilitated success or failure.
Finally, in the Epilogue, she assesses the Roe decision and its
aftermath, including an analysis of the pro-life movement in
Pennsylvania.
As the author remarks, "Without question people's positions on
abortion are shaped by a myriad of social, moral, and economic
factors. But ultimately abortion policy is shaped in the political
arena. This book examines how one of the most intimate decisions a
woman makes, whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy, has
become one of the most politicized issues in contemporary American
politics".
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