Library: Abortion and the Law in the US: Introductory Readings

The following resources present an overview of the topic. They may be a good place for novice researchers to start.

Opposing Viewpoints: Abortion
"Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints is the premier online resource covering today's hottest social issues, from capital punishment to immigration to marijuana. This cross-curricular resource supports science, social studies, current events, and language arts classes. Informed, differing views help learners develop critical-thinking skills and draw their own conclusions."
ProCon: Abortion
An overview of the issue and discussion of the top pro and con arguments.
Points of view: Abortion: Guide to Critical Analysis
"This article offers a critical guide to the controversial issue of abortion. The article discusses criteria in understanding the issue, such as distinguishing between fact and opinion and recognizing point and counterpoint arguments. Also presented are exercises that help the reader further analyze abortion, such as a debate or a critical essay, for the purpose of developing and effectively arguing a personal perspective."
Points of view: Abortion and minors
"Although women aged eighteen and younger account for a relatively small share of all the abortions performed every year in the United States, their legal status as minors has made them a particular focal point in reproductive policy debates. Tracking the exact rates of abortion among minors is difficult, as the main source for abortion statistics is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which breaks the statistics down according to women's ages in five-year increments; thus, CDC statistics record abortions for women younger than fifteen, age fifteen through nineteen, age twenty through twenty-four, and so on. For 2015, the CDC recored 638,169 reported legal induced abortions in the United States; of these, abortions among women younger than fifteen accounted for 0.3 percent of the total; abortions among women aged fifteen through nineteen accounted for 9.8 percent of the total."
Points of view: "Late-term abortion"
"The article presents an overview of late-term abortion which involves the termination of a pregnancy during its more advanced stages. According to estimates, a total of some 1.5 million late-term procedures are performed each year in the U.S. Dilatation and evacuation (D&E) is cited as the most common method for performing second-trimester abortions. A brief history of late-term abortion in the country is presented, as well as related terms and their definitions."

The following resources are philosophical in their approach, highlighting ethical challenges raised by the topic. They may be most appropriate for advanced students (see also: the additional resources gathered on the abortion rights movement, the anti-abortion movement, and classic texts on abortion).

Coming to Life: Philosophies of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Mothering by Sarah LaChance Adams (Editor); Caroline R. Lundquist (Editor)
Call Number: eBook is Available Online to Buffalo State College community
ISBN: 0823244601
Publication Date: 2012-12-24
In this volume 16 authors- including both established feminists and some of today's most innovative new scholars- engage in sustained reflection on the experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and mothering, and on the beliefs, customs, and political institutions by which those experiences are informed. Many of the topics in this collection, though familiar, are here taken up in a new way: contributors think beyond the traditional pro-choice/pro-life dichotomy, speak to the manifold nature of mothering by considering the experiences of adoptive mothers and birthmothers, and upend the belief that childrearing practices must be uniform despite psycho-sexual differences in children. Many chapters reveal the radical shortcomings of conventional philosophical wisdom by placing trenchant assumptions about subjectivity, gender, power and virtue in dialogue with women's experience.
In Search of Common Ground on Abortion by Robin West (Editor); Justin Murray (Editor); Meredith Esser (Editor)
Call Number: eBook is Available Online to Buffalo State College community
ISBN: 1317117972
Publication Date: 2016-05-23
This book brings together academics, legal practitioners and activists with a wide range of pro-choice, pro-life and other views to explore the possibilities for cultural, philosophical, moral and political common ground on the subjects of abortion and reproductive justice more generally. It aims to rethink polarized positions on sexuality, morality, religion and law, in relation to abortion, as a way of laying the groundwork for productive and collaborative dialogue. Edited by a leading figure on gender issues and emerging voices in the quest for reproductive justice - a broad concept that encompasses the interests of men, women and children alike - the contributions both search for 'common ground' between opposing positions in our struggles around abortion, and seek to bring balance to these contentious debates. The book will be valuable to anyone interested in law and society, gender and religious studies and philosophy and theory of law.