Abortion Law and Policy: An Equal Opportunity Perspective (Biomedical Law & Ethics Library)

After at least half a century of political and legal agitation for the liberalization of abortion, most liberal democracies make provision for lawful abortion, but retain criminal penalties for unlawful abortion practices. Legal solutions which have redefined abortion as a health matter represent the views of the majority and accommodate the needs of most women seeking to terminate a pregnancy. Nevertheless, there are still minorities at both ends of the spectrum who refuse to accept the legalization of abortion for any reason, or who refused to accept any restriction on abortion prior to live birth. Periodically, public disputes arise or scandals occur which give minority view holders the opportunity to re-open the political debate and remind the public that the matter is far from settled. In some jurisdictions such as Britain and Australia, women do not have a right to abortion and in most of these jurisdictions both medical practitioners and women can be criminally liable under these abortion laws.

Abortion Law and Policy is a scholarly analysis of reproductive freedoms and rights within a legal and policy framework. The book looks at legal models in common law and civil law jurisdictions rather than specific laws, and draws substantially on developments in the United States, Canada, Australia and Britain. The book challenges the assumption that abortion should be regulated by law and exposes the discriminatory irrational and fragile foundations upon which abortion laws are currently based. Kerry Petersen argues that archaic criminal abortion laws and the more ‘enlightened’ health/criminal approaches to abortion are discriminatory in that they deprive approximately half of the population of the right to personal autonomy.

Offering a compelling critique of current abortion laws, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of law, healthcare studies, sociology, gender studies and social policy.