Abortion Wars

A Half Century of Struggle, 1950-2000
1. Auflage 1998
ISBN: 978-0-520-20952-7
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 301 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 227 mm, Gewicht: 572 g

In the past half century, we have moved from criminalization of abortion to legalization, although unequal access to services and violent protests continue to tear American society apart. In this provocative volume, a passionate and diverse group of abortion rights proponents—journalists, scholars, activists, lawyers, physicians, and philosophers—chronicles the evolution of one of the most intensely debated issues of our time. Unique in its attention to so many aspects of the debate, Abortion Wars places key issues such as medical practice, activism, legal strategies, and the meaning of choice in the deeply complex historical context of the past half-century.

Taking the reader into the trenches of the battle over abortion rights, the contributors zero in on the key moments and turning points of this ongoing war. Rickie Solinger and Laura Kaplan discuss the covert history of abortion before Roe v. Wade, including the activities of the abortion providers called Jane. Faye Ginsburg examines the recent rise of anti-abortion militancy and its ties to the religious right. Jane Hodgson reflects on her career as a physician and abortion practitioner before abortion was legal, and Alison Jaggar explores the changing theoretical underpinnings of abortion rights activism. Other essays stress the need to redefine the reproductive rights movement so that race and class as well as gender considerations are at its core and raise questions regarding abortion rights for poor women and women of color.

Taken together, the historical and interdisciplinary perspectives collected here yield a complex picture of what has been at stake in abortion politics during the past fifty years. The essays clarify why so many women consider abortion crucial to their lives and why opposition to abortion rights has become so violent today. The essays illuminate a fundamental lesson about the nature of social change in the United States: that judicial decisions that overturn restrictive laws and establish new rights do not settle social policy and, in fact, are likely to spark severe and long-lasting resistance.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Solinger, Rickie

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Abtreibung, Geburtenkontrolle: Soziale & Ethische Themen
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Kulturwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments  Chronology of Abortion Politics  Introduction: Abortion Politics and History  Rickie Solinger  Part One  COERCION, RESISTANCE, AND LIBERATION  BEFORE ROE V. WADE

I Pregnancy and Power before Roe v. Wade, 1950-1970  Rickie Solinger

2 Beyond Safe and Legal: The Lessons of Jane  Laura Kaplan

3 Women versus Connecticut: Conducting a  Statewide Hearing on Abortion  Amy Kesselman  Part Two  STRATEGIC ARENAS

4 The Rule of Law, the Rise of Violence, and the Role  of Morality: Reframing America's Abortion Debate  Marcy J. Wilder

5 Legal Strategies for Abortion Rights  in the Twenty-first Century  Kathryn Kolbert and Andrea Miller  6 Electoral Politics and Abortion: Narrowing the Message William Saletan  7 Punishing Drug Addicts Who Have Babies: Women of Color, Equality, and the Right of Privacy Dorothy E. Roberts Part Three ACTIVISM  8 African-American Women and Abortion Loretta J. Ross  9 Abortion in the United States—Legal But Inaccessible Marlene Gerber Fried

10 Rescuing the Nation: Operation Rescue and the Rise of Anti-Abortion Militance Faye Ginsburg Toward Coalition: The Reproductive Health Technologies Project Marie Bass Part Four PHYSICIANS AND THE POLITICS OF PROVISION

12 "We Called It Kindness": Establishing a Feminist Abortion Practice Elizabeth Karlin

13 The Twentieth-Century Gender Battle: Difficulties in Perception Jane E. Hodgson

14 Life on the Front Lines Warren M. Hern

15 The Crisis in Abortion Provision and Pro-Choice Medical Activism in the 199os Carole Joffe, Patricia Anderson, and Jody Steinauer Part Five REINTERPRETING ABORTION RIGHTS OVER TIME

16 Regendering the U.S. Abortion Debate Alison M. Jaggar

17 Psychologies of Abortion: Implications of a Changing Context Sharon Gold-Steinberg and Abigail J. Stewart
18 Disability Rights and Selective Abortion Marsha Saxton Contributors Index

Über Autor(innen)

Rickie Solinger is the author of The Abortionist: A Woman Against the Law (California, 1996) and Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race before Roe v. Wade (1992).