Abortion rights scholar releases useful legal history of debate
Mary Ziegler one of the leading researchers on abortion
Books about abortion will likely proliferate in the coming years, and it will be interesting to see the approach authors take in discussing the topic. Some–like Mary Ziegler–focus on the legal evolution of abortion jurisprudence.
In her new book, Roe: The History of a National Obsession, the UC Davis law professor tracks the development of how lawyers and judges viewed and treated abortion between Roe and Dobbs. There are parts of the book that deal with some of the accompanying antiabortion and abortion rights cultures to landmark decisions that took place throughout the decades.
The explanation of precedent is succinct and useful. Ziegler explains them easily understood examinations of cases like Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Gonzales v. Carhart. Insofar as understanding and writing about abortion law, there isn’t anyone who is better than Ziegler.
Some prominent figures are featured in the book, including trailblazing feminist Karen Mulhauser, who led NARAL in the 1970s and remained a fixture within the women’s movement for decades after.
The book is fair in its representation of both sides of the debate. It discusses how various presidents from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump reacted to congressional and judicial activity pertaining to abortion. With some of the presidents, it may have been interesting to explore their behavior to a greater depth. For instance, Reagan’s presidency also included the publication of Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation, an antiabortion manifesto he released in 1984. There was also a great deal of clinical violence that providers blamed on Reagan’s rhetoric.
While the murder of abortion doctors like David Gunn and John Britton was mentioned, it would have also been useful to connect their murders with the white supremacy and separatist movements of the 1990s. It’s difficult to cover all angles of the abortion issue with any book that attempts to serve as a handbook. So it’s fair to understand why Ziegler chose to focus on the legal history. Other authors no doubt will focus on the religious reaction to it from both the antiabortion and abortion rights movements. Some will focus on extremism and violence.
There are also criticisms of pro-choice presidents aside from Jimmy Carter. Bill Clinton angered some on the left with his, “safe, legal and rare” rhetoric. Barack Obama marginalized pro-choice people of faith by saying he needed to find “common ground” with evangelicals who opposed abortion.