This Note traces the evolution of US constitutional law from Roe v. Wade (1973), which established a right to abortion, to Dobbs v. Jackson (2022), which overturned Roe along with Planned Parenthood ...v. Casey (1992) and returned the issue to the states. It examines the questions of constitutional interpretation raised by Dobbs. It considers practical challenges, including the patchwork of state laws, the prevalence of medical abortion, and the aggressive stance taken by both sides. Finally, it proposes elements for a principled compromise about law in the United States, which takes seriously the full humanity of the unborn and is attentive to other jurisprudentially relevant factors, including lack of support for women facing crisis pregnancies and the relationship between race and abortion.
In this paper I analyse the written testimonies submitted by pro-choice Irish women to the government in advance of the Referendum to Repeal the Eighth Amendment in May 2018. These testimonies are ...all in favour of legal reform to allow abortion access. However, the women's narratives are far from homogeneous in how they view abortion and how they present their abortion histories. Some offer a categorically pro-choice position with unapologetic calls for the liberatory potential of abortion in society to be recognized. Others, however, are far more cautious, far more conciliatory. Here, drawing on a powerful set of normative expectations around femininity, sexuality, class and family, such pro-choice women invoke a particular cultural meaning of abortion that, paradoxically perhaps, calls for the end to prohibitions on abortion while simultaneously provoking certain anti-abortion sentiments in detailing their individual abortion histories. I also suggest that adopting a defensive, almost apologetic endorsement of abortion may have significant anti-abortion side-effects in restricting future access to reproductive rights. Instead, what is called for, from a pro-choice advocacy perspective, is developing a culture of outspokenness around abortion to counter further anti-abortion inroads into women's reproductive lives.
To compare the prevalence and characteristics of facility laws governing abortion provision specifically (targeted regulation of abortion providers TRAP laws); office-based surgeries, procedures, ...sedation or anesthesia (office interventions) generally (OBS laws); and other procedures specifically.
We conducted cross-sectional legal assessments of state facility laws for office interventions in effect as of August 1, 2016. We coded characteristics for each law and compared characteristics across categories of laws.
TRAP laws (n = 55; in 34 states) were more prevalent than OBS laws (n = 25; in 25 states) or laws targeting other procedures (n = 1; in 1 state). TRAP laws often regulated facilities that would not be regulated under OBS laws (e.g., all TRAP laws, but only 2 OBS laws, applied regardless of sedation or anesthesia used). TRAP laws imposed more numerous and more stringent requirements than OBS laws.
Many states regulate abortion-providing facilities differently, and more stringently, than facilities providing other office interventions. The Supreme Court's 2016 decision in Whole Woman's Health v Hellerstedt casts doubt on the legitimacy of that differential treatment.
This study examines the relationship between perceptions of pregnancy and fetal milestone timing and support for abortion bans. Using survey data collected from a representative sample of 739 US ...adults, we use logistic regression to predict support for six- and 15-week abortion bans. Perceptions of timing for the milestones of pregnancy awareness and fetal pain are significantly related to support for six-week abortion bans. Furthermore, this relationship is moderated by abortion identity labels (e.g. pro-life, pro-choice). Our findings suggest that, although perceptions of milestone timing may be related to abortion attitudes, the relationship is nuanced.
After Dobbs, abortion access advocates try to make clear the harm of abortion criminalization. Two figures came to dominate the landscape: the reproductive martyr and the tragic abortion provider. ...Their stories focus on the threat to the health and life of women who need abortion for medical reasons. While such stories can produce sympathy for individuals and outrage at abortion bans, they occlude more important accounts of the loss of abortion rights that focus on the gender inequality of bodily violability. Understanding abortion rights as an issue of freedom and equality provides better grounds for understanding their loss.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, some US state governments banned abortion due to its allegedly 'elective' nature. While these actions were successfully challenged in courts, discussion ...about the topic may have shaped personal and public opinion. This study aimed to explore the framing of abortion in local newspapers during the onset of the pandemic. Articles regarding abortion were collected from three top circulated local online news publications from three southern US states. Of the states that attempted to block abortions, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi were selected for their high non-White populations. Using critical thematic analysis, 77 articles were analysed, and four themes were identified: individual-centric, public health risk, interplay with inequalities, and hierarchical health care. Existing abortion narratives were taken up by different sides of the debate to push political agendas. However, new pro-/anti-abortion justifications were observed, specifically regarding public health concerns during COVID-19. Anti-abortion activists framed abortion provision as a health risk and employed other narratives that likely reinforced gendered, ethnic and socioeconomic power disparities by shifting blame onto abortion seekers and providers. However, pro-choice supporters framed abortion as essential health care and as a structural issue, which may have bolstered awareness for structural change.
On the issue of abortion, Ireland and Poland have been among the most conservative countries in Europe. Their legal and cultural approaches to this issue have been deeply influenced by the ...institution of the Catholic Church and its purported role as a defender of an authentic national identity. However, their political climates for abortion reform are increasingly divergent: Ireland has liberalised its abortion law substantially since 2018, while Poland is moving towards further criminalisation with the repeated introduction of restrictive laws in parliament. Both have seen active pro-choice movements who mobilise for reform and widespread non-compliance with their restrictive abortion laws, but the policy impact of these trends varies significantly. What accounts for this difference? This article draws on comparative analysis of Ireland and Poland to assess their divergent trajectories on abortion reform, arguing that the most significant driver of change between the two is the disparity in influence of the Catholic Church on politics and policymaking.
Many people believe that the abortion debate will end when at some point in the future it will be possible for fetuses to develop outside the womb. Ectogenesis, as this technology is called, would ...make possible to reconcile pro‐life and pro‐choice positions. That is because it is commonly believed that there is no right to the death of the fetus if it can be detached alive and gestated in an artificial womb. Recently Eric Mathison and Jeremy Davis defended this position, by arguing against three common arguments for a right to the death of the fetus. I claim that their arguments are mistaken. I argue that there is a right to the death of the fetus because gestating a fetus in an artificial womb when genetic parents refuse it violates their rights not to become a biological parent, their rights to genetic privacy and their property rights. The right to the death of the fetus, however, is not a woman's right but genetic parents’ collective right which only can be used together.
To identify the barriers and facilitators to accessing first-trimester abortion services for women in the developed world.
Systematic review of published literature. CINAHL, PubMed, Proquest, ...MEDLINE, InformIT, Scopus, PsycINFO and Academic Search Premier were searched for papers written in the English language, from the developed world, including quantitative and qualitative articles published between 1993 and 2014.
The search initially yielded 2511 articles. After screening of title, abstract and removing duplicates, 38 articles were reviewed. From the provider perspective, barriers included moral opposition to abortion, lack of training, too few physicians, staff harassment, and insufficient hospital resources, particularly in rural areas. From the women's perspective, barriers included lack of access to services (including distance and lack of service availability), negative attitudes of staff, and the associated costs of the abortion procedure. Service access could be enhanced by increasing training, particularly for mid-level practitioners; by increasing the range of service options, including the use of telehealth; and by creating clear guidelines and referral procedures to alternative providers when staff have a moral opposition to abortion.
Despite fewer legal barriers to accessing abortion services, the evidence from this review suggests that women in developed countries still face significant inequities in terms of the level of quality and access to services as recommended by the World Health Organization.
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