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Ziegler documents a shift to debates on policy costs and benefits that deepened polarization on abortion in this first legal history of the period.
List of contents
1. Roe v. Wade and the rise of rights arguments; 2. The Hyde Amendment and its aftermath; 3. Launching a quest to reverse Roe; 4. Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the family, and equal citizenship; 5. Contesting the relationship between abortion and health care; 6. Partial-birth and who decides the costs and benefits; 7. Polarization, religious liberty, and the war on women; Conclusion.
About the author
Mary Ziegler is Stearns Weaver Miller Professor at Florida State University College of Law and one of the leading authorities on the legal history of abortion in America. She is the author of Beyond Abortion (2018) and the award-winning After Roe (2015). She often lends her expertise to mass media outlets across the world.
Summary
With the Supreme Court likely to reverse Roe v. Wade, the decision legalizing abortion, American debate appears fixated on clashing rights. The first comprehensive look at the legal history of recent decades, this book illuminates an unexpected shift toward arguments about policy costs and benefits - one that deepened polarization.
Additional text
'Mary Ziegler's fine book shows that opposing sides in fights over abortion disagree about much more than constitutional principles. Even when the battle focuses on costs and benefits of abortion rather than constitutional rights, deep mistrust between activists on opposing side - reflected in disputes over basic facts relating to the science and regulation of abortion, in disagreements about which sources of information and expertise are reliable, and even in harsh assessments of opponents' character and integrity - thwarts any hope of compromise.' Ann Southworth, University of California, Irvine
