Rethinking Abortion (ebook)

Argumento de Rethinking Abortion (ebook)

Mark Graber looks at the history of abortion law in action to argue that the only defensible, constitutional approach to the issue is to afford all women equal choice--abortion should remain legal or bans should be strictly enforced. Steering away from metaphysical critiques of privacy, Graber compares the philosophical, constitutional, and democratic merits of the two systems of abortion regulation witnessed in the twentieth century: pre-Roe v. Wade statutory prohibitions on abortion and Roe's ban on significant state interference with the market for safe abortion services. He demonstrates that before Roe, pro-life measures were selectively and erratically administered, thereby subverting our constitutional commitment to equal justice. Claiming that these measures would be similarly administered if reinstated, the author seeks to increase support for keeping abortion legal, even among those who have reservations about its morality.

Abortion should remain legal, Graber argues, because statutory bans on abortion have a history of being enforced in ways that intentionally discriminate against poor persons and persons of color. In the years before Roe, the same law enforcement officials who routinely ignored and sometimes assisted those physicians seeking to terminate pregnancies for their private patients too often prevented competent abortionists from offering the same services to the general public. This double standard violated the fundamental human and constitutional right of equal justice under law, a right that remains a major concern of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

"[Mark Graber's] pragmatic interpretation of abortion law and politics is interesting, concisely written, and well researched.... Its combination of concrete analysis and theoretical insights should provide for a productive discussion."--Timothy L. Smith, The Law and Politics Book Review0Acknowledgments ix
Introduction
Sublime Theories, Ugly Facts 3
The Argument for Equal Choice 8
Things to Come 12
Chapter I
The Clash of Absolutes Revisited 16
The Clash of Absolutes 16
Abortion Law in Books 18
The Looking Glass World of Abortion Advocacy 20
The Theoretical Impasse 37
Chapter II
Abortion Law in Action 39
Abortion Past 41
Abortion Present 64
Abortion Future 72
Chapter III
Equal Choice 76
Equal Justice under Law 76
Constitutional Equality 79
Discriminatory State Action 84
Judicial Review 96
Slaughtering the Company: The Prudential Case against Equal Choice 103
The Simple Justice of General Laws 106
Chapter IV
Rule by Law 108
By the Law of the Land 108
Rule by Law versus Rule by Discretion 109
Judicial Rule by Law 114
Law Enforcement in a Democracy 115
Chapter V
Realizing Equal Choice Persuasion and Politics 118
The Critique of Pure Litigation 121
The Myth of the Pro-Choice Majority 131
Rethinking Abortion Politics 142
Pro-Choice Strategy and the New Deal Party System 153
Conclusion
The Allure of Pro-Life 157
Notes 161
Bibliography 209
Index of Cases 237
General Index 240