Suchergebnisse

Examines some fundamental questions surrounding the issue of abortion today. Addresses the rights of women and the need to protect the helpless unborn, explores the debate over when life begins, and provides information on the legality of abortion in various areas of the world today

This study tests the hypothesis that state abortion rates are influenced by state restrictions on abortion. Earlier studies have shown mixed results. I develop a model of abortion rates for the time period 1988-1996 & hypothesize that the adoption of abortion restrictions requiring parental involvement for minors, abortion-specific informed consent, & waiting periods prior to the procedure lead to lower state abortion rates. I further hypothesize that individual four-year models of the period before & after the Casey (1992) decision will demonstrate that this effect was strongest in the time period after the Casey decision. Analysis of the data confirms the first hypothesis that restrictions have a significant impact on abortion rates while controlling for other factors that influence the abortion rate. The second hypothesis is not confirmed, as the effect is significant prior to the Casey decision. 3 Tables, 1 Appendix, 21 References. Adapted from the source document.

The Harris poll is a major barometer of PO regarding the Supreme Court's 1973 abortion decision. Between June 1972 & early 1978, Harris posed seven major abortion questions to the American public, including the following one, which has been repeated annually. "In 1973, the US Supreme Court decided that state laws which make it illegal for a woman to have an abortion up to three months of pregnancy were unconstitutional, & that the decision on whether a woman should have an abortion up to three months of pregnancy should be left to the woman & her doctor to decide. In general, do you favor or oppose the US Supreme Court decision making abortions up to three months of pregnancy legal?" Noting that the Court actually permitted abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy, & surveying the public's responses to other polls, it appears that the Harris question is an invalid measure of PO of the Court's ruling, because it narrowly focuses attention on the first trimester of pregnancy. Asking the question in this form misleads uninformed Rs about the actual nature of the Court's ruling, & restricts the attention of informed Rs to one clause in that ruling. Therefore, reports based on this question overestimate the extent of support for the Court's decision. AA.

Addresses the lack of consensus within the reproductive rights community regarding how abortion should be understood. On the left, discomfort with abortion arises from the potential political costs concomitant with too closely associating with it. What is seen, is that progressives generally avoid abortion whenever possible. Support for abortion can best be bolstered by viewing it as one part of the mosaic of reproductive & sexual rights & services. Not situating the support for abortion thusly affords the opposition much room to maneuver. Some attention is given to the April 2004 for March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC, as reflective of the broadened, mosaic vision. The implications of the 2004 presidential election outcomes for the reproductive movement are discussed in a postscript, along with the lack of coherence in the signal sent by voters with respect to the notion of moral values. J. Zendejas