Who Decides?: The Abortion Rights of Teens (Reproductive Rights and Policy)

224 Pages·2006·0.98 MB·English

by  J. Shoshanna Ehrlich

WHO DECIDES?

WHO DECIDES?
The Abortion Rights of Teens
J. Shoshanna Ehrlich
Foreword by Sarah Weddington
Reproductive Rights and Policy
Judith Baer, Series Editor
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ehrlich, Shoshanna.
Who decides? : the abortion rights of teens / J. Shoshanna Ehrlich.
p. cm.—(Reproductive rights and policy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–275–98321–8
1. Abortion—Law and legislation—United States. 2. Pregnant school-
girls—Legal status, laws, etc.—United States. 3. Pregnancy, Unwanted—
United States—Decision making. 4. Teenage pregnancy—United States.
I. Title. II. Series.
KF9315.E36 2006
342.7308'4—dc22 2005037080
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2006 by J. Shoshanna Ehrlich
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2005037080
ISBN: 0–275–98321–8
First published in 2006
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed in the United States of America
∞
TM
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is lovingly dedicated to my daughter, Emma Stoskopf-Ehrlich,
and to the memory of my mother, Shelley Ehrlich.

Contents
Foreword by Sarah Weddington ix
Series Foreword by Judith Baer xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xv
1 A Crime No Longer: Roe v. Wade and the
Constitutional Right of Choice 1
2 Young Women and the Constitutional Right of Choice 33
3 (Mis)constructing Adolescent Reality:
Bellotti v. Baird Reconsidered 49
4 In Their Own Words 71
5 Facing an Unplanned Pregnancy: The Abortion Decision 83
6 Parents or the Judge? 107
7 Child or Adult? The Indeterminate
Legal Status of Adolescents 139
viii Contents
Conclusion 157
Notes 161
Resources 197
Index 201
Foreword
P
rofessor Shoshanna Ehrlich has written a timely book in ”Who Decides?:
The Abortion Rights of Teens.” It is organized and composed with the
skill of a great artist. The book is fresh and thought provoking. It presents
the voices of young women recalling why they chose to have an abortion as
well as why they chose not to discuss this decision with their parents. Since
we, the readers, do not have that opportunity, Professor Ehrlich gives us a rare
insight into those deliberations and thought processes. The inconsistencies and
uncertainties of the current legal regard for the decisions of minors are startling
for those who do not deal with those issues on a day-to-day basis. The book raises
valuable questions about what a more appropriate approach would be and offers
useful suggestions toward that end.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in abortion law and policy as
well as the rights of teens. From the book’s beginning pages the reader gains an
understanding of “how we got where we are” in the U.S. regarding the law of
abortion and then spotlights the struggle to ensure that young women also have
a meaningful right of choice. It should be read by anyone who is involved in or
wishes to understand more about the current battle to preserve a woman’s right
to abortion.
We are now experiencing what feel like the early tremors of a coming earth-
quake set off by the changing membership of the U.S. Supreme Court. Will R oe