Abortion and Dialogue: Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, and American Law - Softcover

Colker, Ruth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 025320738X ISBN 13: 9780253207388

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 1992

Synopsis

"The issues she takes on are crucial―not solely the subject areas of reproductive rights and law, or public policy lenses and judicial impact in women's and children's lives, but also the more difficult and fundamental questions of how these 'hot topics' can be approached so as to make the most of the good will of all and the force of free discussion for social learning. . . . she brings a strong, evolving and distinctive perspective to the discussion." ―Emily Fowler Hartigan

In Abortion and Dialogue, Ruth Colker argues that the state falsely views the woman and the fetus as having conflicting needs when it intervenes in decisions regarding preganancies. Colker's feminist-theological perspective on reproductive health issues encourages both pro-choice and pro-life advocates to consider how the value of life is implicated in discussions of reproduction.

Colker argues that theology can contribute to our understanding if we apply the concepts of love, compassion, and wisdom to problems identified by feminist theory and to actual concrete situations: the impact of abortion regulations on poor female adolescents; the judicial treatment of abortion regulations; state intervention into women's decision-making during pregnancies carried to term. Colker concludes by examining effective and respectful family-planning strategies that truly help women in making reproductive choices.

About this title

About the Author

RUTH COLKER, Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh, is the author of Abortion and Dialogue: Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, and American Law. She has written on feminist theory and abortion in such journals as the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, Yale Journal on Law and Feminism, Harvard Women's Law Journal, and Columbia Journal on Gender and Law. In addition to her scholarship, she has served as a legal advocate on behalf of women working with the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund as well as the ACLU.

From the Back Cover

The author hopes to help move the entire abortion debate into a more general discussion of effective and respectful reproductive health strategies that can help women truly decide how to make the reproductive decisions that are best for themselves and their community.

Reviews

Investigating both feminism and theology, Colker, a law professor at Tulane University, describes her moral and intellectual odyssey towards a moderate pro-choice position on abortion. Though the book, which includes close analyses of several important cases, often recalls the dry style of a law review, Colker thoughtfully argues that the right to abortion would be better premised on guarantees of equal protection than on the right to privacy. She looks at case studies regarding sexual activity, contraception and abortion and suggests that ``a coercive social environment'' prevents women from making real choices and thus deprives them of the power to control their reproductive lives. However, in the Roe v. Wade abortion case, the state refused to acknowledge women's interest in protecting their health and well-being while the plaintiff refused to acknowledge the state's interest in protecting fetal life. Colker laments that neither side in the recent Webster case acknowledged these issues and thus hampered good-faith dialogue on abortion. A societal focus on abortion, she also notes, ignores longer-term strategies for reproductive health.

Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 025320738X
• ISBN 13: 9780253207388
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 200