Table Of ContentHow Ethical Systems Change:
Abortion and Neonatal Care
Sheldon Ekland-Olson and Elyshia Aseltine
Roe v. Wade came like a bolt from the blue, but support had been building for
years. For many, the idea that life in the womb was not fully protected under the
Constitution was simply not acceptable. Political campaigns were organized and
protests launched, including the bombing of clinics and the killing of abortion
providers. Questions about the protection and support of life continued after
birth. h is book is based on a hugely popular undergraduate course taught at h e
University of Texas, and is ideal for those interested in the social construction of
social worth, social problems, and social movements.
Sheldon Ekland-Olson joined h e University of Texas at Austin after completing
his graduate work at the University of Washington in Seattle and Yale Law School.
He is currently the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Centennial Professor of Liberal
Arts. He served for i ve years as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and then
for eight years as Executive Vice President and Provost of the university. He has
authored or co-authored several books and numerous articles on criminal justice,
prison reform, and capital punishment. Widely recognized for his commitment
to teaching undergraduates, he is the recipient of numerous teaching awards. His
current interests are rel ected in the book Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides?
(Routledge, 2012).
Elyshia Aseltine is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology at
Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. She joined the Lycoming faculty
after completing her graduate work in sociology at h e University of Texas at Austin.
Her research focuses on punishment and inequality in the United States and Africa.
Framing 21st Century Social Issues
h e goal of this new, unique Series is to of er readable, teachable “thinking frames” on
today’s social problems and social issues by leading scholars. h ese are available for view on
http://routledge.customgateway.com/routledge-social-issues.html.
For instructors teaching a wide range of courses in the social sciences, the Routledge Social
Issues Collection now of ers the best of both worlds: originally written short texts that provide
“overviews” to important social issues as well as teachable excerpts from larger works previously
published by Routledge and other presses.
As an instructor, click to the website to view the library and decide how to build your custom
anthology and which thinking frames to assign. Students can choose to receive the assigned
materials in print and/or electronic formats at an af ordable price.
Available
Body Problems The Future of Higher Education
Running and Living Long in a Fast-Food Dan Clawson and Max Page
Society
Ben Agger Waste and Consumption
Capitalism, the Environment, and the Life
Sex, Drugs, and Death of Things
Addressing Youth Problems in American Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi
Society
Tammy Anderson Rapid Climate Change
Causes, Consequences, and Solutions
The Stupidity Epidemic Scott G. McNall
Worrying About Students, Schools, and
America’s Future The Problem of Emotions in Societies
Joel Best Jonathan H. Turner
Empire Versus Democracy Outsourcing the Womb
The Triumph of Corporate and Military Race, Class, and Gestational Surrogacy
Power in a Global Market
Carl Boggs France Winddance Twine
Contentious Identities Changing Times for Black
Ethnic, Religious, and Nationalist Confl icts Professionals
in Today’s World Adia Harvey Wingfi eld
Daniel Chirot
Why Nations Go to War How Ethical Systems Change:
A Sociology of Military Confl ict Lynching and Capital Punishment
Mark P. Worrell Sheldon Ekland-Olson and Danielle Dirks
How Ethical Systems Change: DIY: The Search for Control and
Eugenics, the Final Solution, Bioethics Self-Reliance in the 21st Century
Sheldon Ekland-Olson and Julie Beicken Kevin Wehr
How Ethical Systems Change: Nuclear Family Values, Extended
Abortion and Neonatal Care Family Lives
Sheldon Ekland-Olson and Elyshia Aseltine Natalia Sarkisian and Naomi Gerstel
How Ethical Systems Change: Disposable Youth, Racialized
Tolerable Suffering and Assisted Memories, and the Culture of Cruelty
Dying Henry Giroux
Sheldon Ekland-Olson and Elyshia Aseltine
Forthcoming
Future Ethics HIV/AIDS: A Global Social Problem
Charles Lemert and Sam Han Carrie Foote
Oversharing: Presentation of Self Google Bombs, Astroturf, and
in the Internet Age Cloaked Sites
Ben Agger Jessie Daniels
Sociology of Mindfulness Girls with Guns
Jodi O’Brien France Winddance Twine
3 Foreign Remedies: What the Torture and Rights
5
95 Experience of Other Nations Can Tell Lisa Hajjar
8
4
7 Us about Next Steps in Reforming
0
14 U.S. Health Care Are We Coddling Prisoners?
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= David Rochefort and Kevin Donnelly Benjamin Fleury-Steiner
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How Ethical Systems Change:
Abortion and Neonatal Care
Sheldon Ekland-Olson
The University of Texas at Austin
Elyshia Aseltine
Lycoming College
F irst published 2012
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012 Taylor & Francis
The right of Sheldon Ekland-Olson and Elyshia Aseltine to be identifi ed as authors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or uti-
lised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or regis-
tered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without
intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Date
Ekland-Olson, Sheldon, 1944–
How ethical systems change : abortion and neonatal care / Sheldon Ekland-Olson,
Elyshia Aseltine.
p. cm. — (Framing 21st century social issues)
1. Abortion—Moral and ethical aspects—United States. 2. Abortion—Law and
legislation—United States. I. Aseltine, Elyshia. II. Title.
HQ767.15.E35 2011
179.7’6—dc23
2011033466
ISBN13: 978-0-415-50449-2 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-12825-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Garamond and Gill Sans
by EvS Communication Networx, Inc.
Printed and bound in the United States of America on acid-free paper.
University Readers (www.universityreaders.com): Since 1992, University
Readers has been a leading custom publishing service, providing reasonably priced,
copyright-cleared, course packs, custom textbooks, and custom publishing services
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to help professors create perfect course materials that is affordable for students.
Contents
Series Foreword ix
Preface xi
I. What Lies Ahead 1
II. A Bolt from the Blue: Abortion Is Legalized 3
III. Man’s Law or God’s Will 15
IV. Inches from Life 34
V. Should the Baby Live? 48
Bibliography 63
Glossary/Index 68
Contents vii
Series Foreword
h e world in the early 21st century is beset with problems—a troubled economy, global
warming, oil spills, religious and national conl ict, poverty, HIV, health problems
associated with sedentary lifestyles. Virtually no nation is exempt, and everyone, even
in al uent countries, feels the impact of these global issues.
Since its inception in the 19th century, sociology has been the academic discipline
dedicated to analyzing social problems. It is still so today. Sociologists of er not only
diagnoses; they glimpse solutions, which they then of er to policy makers and citizens
who work for a better world. Sociology played a major role in the civil rights movement
during the 1960s in helping us to understand racial inequalities and prejudice, and it
can play a major role today as we grapple with old and new issues.
h is series builds on the giants of sociology, such as Weber, Durkheim, Marx,
Parsons, Mills. It uses their frames, and newer ones, to focus on particular issues of
contemporary concern. h ese books are about the nuts and bolts of social problems,
but they are equally about the frames through which we analyze these problems. It is
clear by now that there is no single correct way to view the world, but only paradigms,
models, which function as lenses through which we peer. For example, in analyzing
oil spills and environmental pollution, we can use a frame that views such outcomes
as unfortunate results of a reasonable ef ort to harvest fossil fuels. “Drill, baby, drill”
sometimes involves certain costs as pipelines rupture and oil spews forth. Or we could
analyze these environmental crises as inevitable outcomes of our ef ort to dominate
nature in the interest of proi t. h e i rst frame would solve oil spills with better
environmental protection measures and clean-ups, while the second frame would
attempt to prevent them altogether, perhaps shifting away from the use of petroleum
and natural gas and toward alternative energies that are “green.”
h ese books introduce various frames such as these for viewing social problems.
h ey also highlight debates between social scientists who frame problems dif erently.
h e books suggest solutions, both on the macro and micro levels. h at is, they suggest
what new policies might entail, and they also identify ways in which people, from the
ground level, can work toward a better world, changing themselves and their lives and
families and providing models of change for others.
Series Foreword ix
Readers do not need an extensive background in academic sociology to benei t
from these books. Each book is student-friendly in that we provide glossaries of terms
for the uninitiated that are keyed to bolded terms in the text. Each chapter ends
with questions for further thought and discussion. h e level of each book is accessible
to undergraduate students, even as these books of er sophisticated and innovative
analyses.
Sheldon Ekland-Olson and his coauthors of er a fascinating four-volume analysis of
the evolution of moral, ethical, and legal systems. In each volume, three themes reap-
pear: there are important links between advances in science, technology, and evolv-
ing moral, ethical, and legal thinking; crystallizing events clarify issues and motivate
reform; and boundaries of social worth are drawn when protecting and supporting life
and when resolving dilemmas where the protection of life clashes with the alleviation
of suf ering.
In this book, Ekland-Olson and Elyshia Aseltine trace how laws preventing the use
and distribution of contraception gave rise to a constitutional assertion of individual
autonomy and a right to privacy. When coupled with two troubling events involving
the potential suf ering of the yet-to-be-born, this right formed the foundation for a
landmark abortion decision. Implicit in the idea of legal abortion is the assertion that
the fetus is not a fully protected person. h is assertion was of ensive to many and
gave rise to a powerful pro-life social movement, elements of which justii ed the tak-
ing of life from abortion providers to protect life of the unborn. As events unfolded
the debate continued well into the early months of life. Medical advances facilitated
prolonging life of newborns, formerly labeled monstrosities at birth, even in the face
of suf ering and futility. h e quality of these short lives raised the question of whether
the quality of life was really worthy of protection and support.
x Series Foreword
Preface
In the United States no issue more dominated the political landscape in the late 20th
century than abortion. h e debates were contentious, i lled with accusations, and
are inl amed with violence. h ey were anchored in a Supreme Court decision, Roe v.
C
atal Wade (1973), For many, Roe came like a bolt from the blue. How could justices on the
n
eo Supreme Court of the United States rule that a fetus was not a fully protected person
N
nd under the constitution? Such a i nding l ew in the face of the idea that life is sacred
a
on and should be protected.
borti While its impact was abrupt, the Roe decision had been taking shape for many
A
e: years. Early abortion laws of the 19th century were designed to protect the health of
g
n
ha the mother as much as the life of the fetus. Medical practice and available antibiotics
C
ms had changed this. By mid-20th century, having an abortion, if properly administered,
e
st was safer than giving birth after carrying a child to full term. When it came to the
y
S
al risks inherent in having an abortion, it was argued, there was no longer any compel-
c
hi
Et ling reason for state intervention.
w Roe
o In addition, following World War II and especially in the decade preceding ,
H
2, there were increasing pressures to reai rm the autonomy of individual choice and to
1
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3, 251 assert the equality of women across the political, social, and legal landscape. h e story
22
pr 28 of a young woman in Arizona, denied an abortion, even though she had taken a drug
A1
hia, 0203 that all but ensured the recently conceived fetus in her womb would develop serious
ys78 disabilities and potentially lead a life i lled with suf ering, drew the nation’s attention.
e, ElN: 9 At the same time, a rubella pandemic broke out, spreading a disease also associated
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eldHo not the alleviation of suf ering also a basic human value? Existing laws prohibiting
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Eklaylor drawn. Politicians took positions, waged campaigns, won and lost elections. Scholars
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worried over the i ne points of philosophical and legal arguments. Activists produced
statistics, argued for the rights of the disabled, underscored the importance of privacy
Preface xi
Description:Roe v. Wade came like a bolt from the blue, but support had been building for years. For many, the idea that life in the womb was not fully protected under the Constitution was simply not acceptable. Political campaigns were organized and protests launched, including the bombing of clinics and the k
