Monday, October 5, 2015

After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate

Mary Ziegler (FSU College of Law). After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate (Harvard Univ. Press, 2015).

"In the early years after the decision, advocates on either side of the abortion battle sought common ground on issues from pregnancy discrimination to fetal research. Drawing on archives and more than 100 interviews with key participants, Ziegler’s revelations complicate the view that abortion rights proponents were insensitive to larger questions of racial and class injustice, and expose as caricature the idea that abortion opponents were inherently antifeminist. But over time, 'pro-abortion' and 'anti-abortion' positions hardened into 'pro-choice' and 'pro-life' categories in response to political pressures and compromises. This increasingly contentious back-and-forth produced the interpretation now taken for granted—that Roe was primarily a ruling on a woman’s right to choose."

Publisher's website