Abortion Regret: The New Attack on Reproductive Freedom

About this book

An indispensable resource for students scholars and activists concerned about current attacks on abortion rights this book offers an unmatched account of the emergence consolidation and consequences of the antiabortion movements paternalistic abortion regret narrative. Abortion Regret explores the emergence and consolidation of the antiabortion movements paternalistic efforts to "protect" women from abortion regret. It begins by examining the 19th-century physicians campaign to criminalize abortion and traces the contours of the women-protective abortion regret narrative through to the 21st century. Based on interviews textual analysis of primary sources and a content analysis of state antiabortion policy from 2010-2015 the authors argue that the contemporary rise of the abortion regret narrative has armed the antiabortion movement with a unifying and compelling strategy to oppose abortion through a woman-centered approach. In addition to covering the historical origins of our nations criminal abortion laws the book covers topics that include the origins and growth of crisis pregnancy centers including recent efforts provide perinatal hospice services; an analysis of leading Supreme Court decisions on abortion; the emergence of the "pro-woman/pro-life" antiabortion platform including its deeply religious roots; the infiltration of this position into the political and legal spheres in the guise of a secular rationale for limiting access to abortion; and an evidence-based rejoinder to the position that abortion harms women.