Overview

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 20th century: pre-Roe v Wade statutory pro-hibitions 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 do so again 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 colour.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.

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9780691005270

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Reviews

[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 Review In this extremely interesting and well-written book, Mark Graber maintains that the abortion debate has bogged down. He wants to try a new approach, one that is both pragmatic and, he hopes, likely to appeal to those Americans who, like him, believe that abortion is morally wrong, but should be legal. -- Bonnie Steinbock Ethics

Author Information

Mark A. Graber, who holds a Ph.D. and a J.D., is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Maryland. He is the author of Transforming Free Speech: The Ambiguous Legacy of Civil Libertarianism.

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