Doctors and Demonstrators: How Political Institutions Shape Abortion Law in the United States, Britain, and Canada

368 Pages·2011·1.55 MB·English

by  Drew Halfmann

Doctors and Demonstrators

Doctors and
Demonstrators
How Political Institutions Shape
Abortion Law in the United States,
Britain, and Canada
DREW HALFMANN
The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
DREW HALFMANN is associate professor of sociology at the
University of California, Davis.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2011 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2011.
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-31342-9 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-31343-6 (paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-31342-5 (cloth)
ISBN-10: 0-226-31343-3 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Halfmann, Drew.
Doctors and demonstrators : how political institutions shape abortion law in the United
States, Britain, and Canada / Drew Halfmann.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-31342-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-31342-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-31343-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-31343-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Abortion—Law and legislation—United
States. 2. Abortion—Law and legislation—Great Britain. 3. Abortion—Law and legislation—
Canada. 4. Abortion—Political aspects—United States. 5. Abortion—Political aspects—Great
Britain. 6. Abortion—Political aspects—Canada. I. Title.
K5181.H35 2011
342.08'4—dc22 2011003353
a The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Contents
List of Abbreviations vii
Acknowledgments ix
1 Introduction 1
PART ONE Abortion Reforms of the Long 1960s 33
2 The Reforms and Their Roots 35
3 Medical Interests and Priorities 66
PART TWO After Reform 99
4 Abortion Services 101
5 The Politicization of Abortion 125
6 Policy Change after Reform 166
7 Political Institutions and Abortion Policy 202
References 219
Appendix 1: Statements on Abortion in American Party Platforms,
1972–2008 221
Appendix 2: U.S. Supreme Court Cases on Abortion 228
Appendix 3: Abortion Attitudes in the United States and Britain 231
Appendix 4: Abortion Funding and Provision in the United States, Britain,
and Canada, 1970s–2000s 232
Appendix 5: Abortion Attitudes in the United States, Britain, and Canada,
1975–2004 234
Notes 237
Index 341

Abbreviations
ACGME Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
(United States)
ACLU American Civil Liberties Union
ACOG American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
ALI American Law Institute
ALRA Abortion Law Reform Association (Britain)
AMA American Medical Association
AMCAL Association for the Modernization of Canadian Abor-
tion Laws
AMPAC American Medical Political Action Committee
ASA Association for the Study of Abortion (United States)
BMA British Medical Association
BPAS Birmingham Pregnancy Advisory Service (later, British
Pregnancy Advisory Service)
CARAL Canadian Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws
(1973–80)
CARAL Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (1980–2002)
CBA Canadian Bar Association
CCTA California Committee on Therapeutic Abortion
CLSC centre local de services communitaires
CMA Canadian Medical Association
ERA Equal Rights Amendment (United States)
FLQ Front de libération du Québec
FPD Family Planning Division (Canada)
G8 Group of Eight
GOP Republican Party (“Grand Old Party”)
GP general practitioner
ICMCA Illinois Citizens for the Medical Control of Abortion
LARC Labour Abortion Rights Committee (Britain)
LPAS London Pregnancy Advisory Service
NAC National Abortion Campaign (Britain)
vii
AbbREviAtioNs
NAF National Abortion Federation (United States)
NARAL N ational Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (United States,
1969–73)
NARAL National Abortion Rights Action League (United States, 1973–present)
NCCB National Conference of Catholic Bishops (United States)
NDP New Democratic Party (Canada)
NHS National Health Service (Britain)
NORC National Opinion Research Center
NOW National Organization for Women (United States)
NRLC National Right to Life Committee (United States)
NWPC National Women’s Political Caucus (United States)
OB/GYN obstetrician/gynecologist
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OMA Ontario Medical Association
PCP primary care practitioner
PLP Parliamentary Labour Party (Britain)
PPFA Planned Parenthood Federation of America
PQ Parti Québécois
RCOG Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Britain)
SPUC Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (Britain)
ZPG Zero Population Growth (United States)
viii
Acknowledgments
I incurred many debts while I worked on this book, but by
far the greatest is to Edwin Amenta. He first got me hooked
on the question “How do movements matter?” and he was
there for me every step of the way as I explored that ques-
tion and others. I hope that I can be as wise, encouraging,
and inspiring for my own students as he has been for me.
I thank him heartily. I also thank Fred Block for his tre-
mendous generosity, humor, and insight. Thank you also
to all those who read the manuscript, and especially those
who read the whole thing: Edwin Amenta, Jeb Barnes, Fred
Block, Mark Brown, Craig Calhoun, Lori Freedman, Dorith
Geva, Jeff Goodwin, John R. Hall, James Jasper, Carole
Joffe, Matt Keller, Ellie Lee, Anulla Linders, Ming-Cheng Lo,
Michael McQuarrie, Dina Okamoto, Adam Sheingate, Dan
Slater, and Michael Young.
I would also like to thank my teachers, Dot Stegman and
Chuck Hitt. I started thinking about abortion and politics
as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin where I
wrote my first college term paper for political scientist Leon
Epstein on the Supreme Court’s abortion funding decisions.
I had no idea then that I would eventually write a book on
abortion or that Professor Epstein’s work on political parties
would so influence me. I also learned a lot from R. Booth
Fowler and Leon Lindberg. I thank my committee at New
York University: Edwin Amenta (chair), Craig Calhoun, and
Jeff Goodwin. I also benefited greatly from the guidance
of Dalton Conley, Eliot Freidson, David Greenberg, Wolf
Heydebrand, Ruth Horowitz, Robert Max Jackson, Ed Lehman,
and Mildred Schwartz. Thanks also to the members of the
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