Someone on the list, Kelley, Jenny, Liza has to have read this. http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/1832.html
Kristin Luker Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood
California Series on Social Choice and Political Economy, 3
"A lucid, fair-minded and, most importantly, convincing analysis of the contemporary debate about abortion. Based on extensive interviews with both pro-choice and pro-life activists, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt that the controversy derives its intensity not from differences of ideology or religion but from the radically antithetical social circumstances of the combatants. The book is a triumph of the sociologist's method."--Paul Robinson, New York Times Book Review
"One of the most important sociology books of the decade. In addressing crucial public policy issues in an engrossing and accessible manner, she has attracted an attentive audience that extends far beyond academic sociology."--Marion S. Goldman, American Journal of Sociology
DESCRIPTION (back to top)
In this important study of the abortion controversy in the United States, Kristin Luker examines the issues, people, and beliefs on both sides of the abortion conflict. She draws data from twenty years of public documents and newspaper accounts, as well as over two hundred interviews with both pro- life and pro-choice activists. She argues that moral positions on abortion are intimately tied to views on sexual behavior, the care of children, family life, technology, and the importance of the individual.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (back to top) Kristin Luker is Professor of Law and Sociology at the University of California Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). She is also the author of Dubious Conceptions: The Politics of Teenage Pregnancy (1996) and, with Jean Fox O'Barr, Feminism in Action: Building Institutions and Community through Women's Studies (1994).
RELATED BOOKS (back to top)
Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War, by William Saletan Legitimate Differences: Interpretation in the Abortion Controversy and Other Public Debates, by Georgia Warnke A Practical Companion to the Constitution: How the Supreme Court Has Ruled on Issues from Abortion to Zoning, Updated and Expanded Edition of The Evolving Constitution, by Jethro K. Lieberman Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community, Updated edition, by Faye D. Ginsburg Abortion Wars: A Half Century of Struggle, 1950-2000, by Rickie Solinger, editor When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867-1973, by Leslie J. Reagan The Abortionist: A Woman against the Law, by Rickie Solinger