Roe v. Wade at 40: Covering the ongoing debate over abortion

  • Share

Print this page

Archived in Abortion & birth control, Christianity, Church & state, Current edition, Doctrine & practice, Ethics, Federal government, Government & politics, Law and courts, Medical ethics, Science & medicine, Social issues, Source guides, Supreme Court, Women's issues, Writing

Tags

,

Translate this page

The 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion falls on Jan. 22, and the March for Life, the annual anti-abortion rally in Washington, is on Jan. 25. Debate over this hot-button issue is as intense as ever, yet it’s unclear that either opponents or supporters of abortion rights are winning.

abortion sign

Surveys show that a slight majority of Americans consistently want to keep abortion legal in most or all cases, while about 40 percent would like to see abortion outlawed in most or all cases.

According to the latest research from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, a somewhat larger majority consistently supports the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Moreover, white evangelical Protestants are the only major religious group in which a majority – 54 percent – favors completely overturning the Roe v. Wade decision.

During the presidential campaign, rhetoric by some Republican candidates about abortion and rape was seen as so over the top that GOP leaders – including presidential nominee Mitt Romney – distanced themselves from the remarks and even declared they would not seek to overturn the Roe ruling.

On the other hand, pregnancy centers manned largely by Christian opponents of abortion are proliferating, while funding for Planned Parenthood is under attack from many quarters.

And the Guttmacher Institute’s annual review of reproductive health access found that 43 new provisions in 19 state laws sought to restrict access to abortion services in 2012. That was a decrease from the record-breaking 92 abortion restrictions enacted in 2011 but it was the second highest annual number of new abortion restrictions.

Against this variegated backdrop, ReligionLink provides a list of expert sources and organizations and advocacy groups on all sides to help reporters covering this highly charged moral and religious issue.

What’s new

  • Read a comprehensive Jan. 16, 2013, package of poll results and background information on legalized abortion 40 years after Roe by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
  • Read a CNN story on the Pew findings and the results in various religious groups.
  • An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll published on Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe, claims that for the first time a majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. It also says seven in 10 respondents oppose Roe v. Wade being overturned, which is the highest percentage since 1989.
  • A January 2013 Time magazine cover story generated intense debate by saying that the Roe decision was a great victory for abortion rights activists but “They’ve Been Losing Ever Since.”
  • A Jan. 24, 2013, legal conference sponsored by an anti-abortion group, “The Future of Roe: Women, Health and Law in the Obama Era,” will be held at the National Press Club in Washington. The event features a number of activists whom reporters can contact.
  • Read a Jan. 4, 2013, New York Times story, “Pregnancy Centers Gain Influence in Anti-Abortion Arena.”
  • Efforts by some abortion opponents to pass so-called “personhood amendments” have all failed and the strategy appears to have diminished as an effective weapon. These amendments are aimed at effectively ending legalized abortion by making destruction of an embryo at any stage and for any reason illegal. Even some allies of the anti-abortion movement say they are too radical and could lead the Supreme Court to reaffirm rather than overturn Roe v. Wade.
  • A decision in early 2012 by the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation to end grants to Planned Parenthood generated a huge controversy and the decision was later reversed.
  • Americans are conflicted about the morality of abortion, but a majority say it should be legal in all or most cases, according to a survey conducted in April and May 2011 by the Public Religion Research Institute.
  • A study published in March 2011 found that abortions declined in states that enacted laws dealing with parental notification, informed consent or Medicaid funding of the procedure.

Where things stand

At the White House

  • In 2009, the White House put together a task force on abortion reduction proposals, an effort that stirred mixed reactions at the time, as this Wall Street Journal story recounts.
In Congress
  • OpenCongress, an open-source project of the nonprofit Participatory Politics Foundation, tracks bills involving abortion. As with all open-source sites, journalists should verify information found there before using.
  • Congress.org, a publication of CQ-Roll Call Group, also posts information on abortion-related measures.

In the U.S. Supreme Court

  • The high court’s two newest members are Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. Abortion opponents voiced concerns during Kagan’s confirmation process in 2010 that she would prove to be “reliably pro-abortion,” although she had written relatively little on the subject. During Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings in 2009, she said she considers Roe v. Wade to be “settled law,” a phrase used by earlier Republican nominees. Sotomayor said states should not put an undue burden on pregnant women seeking an abortion before a fetus has reached viability, meaning the baby could live on its own.
  • Read the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The page includes links to Supreme Court and Circuit Court cases that have cited Roe v. Wade.

In the states

  • The Guttmacher Institute supports abortion rights and tracks major developments on the issue at the state level; see what transpired in 2012, with additional specifics in this chart.
  • According to Stateline, the news service of the Pew Center on the States, 2012 brought “a near-record number of anti-abortion laws and provisions” at the state level. See other Stateline articles dealing with abortion, as well.
  • Personhood USA was the leading group behind Mississippi’s failed personhood amendment proposal in 2011, a proposal the organization said at the time it hoped to advance in every state. Groups that oppose abortion have not united behind that effort, though. A personhood amendment proposal in Colorado, for example, failed to get the backing of the Catholic Church, the Colorado Eagle Forum or Americans United for Life; voters in that state overwhelmingly rejected the amendment in November 2010.

Background

RELIGION-RELATED RESOURCES

Overviews of religious beliefs

  • Beliefnet.com posts a chart, “What do world religions believe about abortion?”
  • The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life offers a comprehensive backgrounder on abortion. The page includes this September 2008 report on religious beliefs on abortion.
  • The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, an interfaith coalition of 40 groups, lists official resolutions of religious groups that support the right to abortion. The coalition opposes the Mississippi amendment.
  • ReligiousTolerance.org offers this overview of various denominations’ stands on abortion.
  • More than 1,100 clergy and religious professionals have signed an open letter “affirming abortion as a morally justifiable decision.” The letter was organized under the auspices of the Religious Institute, a leading interfaith organization promoting sexual and reproductive rights.

Christian resources

Jewish resources

  • A white paper from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice discusses Jewish perspectives on abortion.
  • ReligiousTolerance.org summarizes Jewish beliefs on abortion.

Muslim resources

  • A BBC article examines Islamic teachings on abortion.
  • The website ReligiousConsultation.org, which focuses on reproductive issues, offers this essay on Islamic thoughts on abortion.

Abortion-related ministries

  • The website AfterAbortion.org offers a listing of people and ministries around the country that offer post-abortion counseling. The group behind the site is lobbying both political parties to stop coerced abortions and support post-abortion therapy.

STUDIES AND STATISTICS

  • The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has a resources page with summaries of surveys and other indicators of American views on abortion.
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posts regular “abortion surveillance” abstracts, which document the numbers of legal abortions reported to the federal government. The latest online abstract is for 2009.
  • The Guttmacher Institute posted a series of infographics to mark the 40th anniversary of Roe. Among the findings: 73 percent of women having abortions report a religious affiliation.

POLLS

  • A majority in the U.S. say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a survey conducted in April and May 2011 by the Public Religion Research Institute. The same survey also found that Americans are conflicted about the morality of abortion.
  • A May 2009 Gallup survey found that most Americans were identifying as pro-life for the first time since it began asking the question in 1995. The development led to speculation about a sea change on abortion after the relative stasis of recent decades. But a follow-up poll in July 2009 showed a return to a near split. Trinity College’s Mark Silk analyzed the shifts at his blog, Spiritual Politics.
  • The website PollingReport.com has a variety of polls on abortion.

MORE ARTICLES

National sources

ORGANIZATIONS AGAINST ABORTION RIGHTS

Regional sources
Northwest Northeast Northwest West Southwest Midwest South Southeast East

ORGANIZATIONS FOR ABORTION RIGHTS

NATIONAL EXPERTS AGAINST ABORTION RIGHTS

  • Teresa S. Collett is a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, where she is described as a “passionate advocate for the protection of human life and the family.” She has assisted attorneys general in several states in defending laws restricting abortions. Contact 651-962-4973, tscollett@stthomas.edu.
  • Robert George holds the McCormick Chair in Jurisprudence at Princeton University and is founding director of its James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He is co-author of Embryo: A Defense of Human Life. George wrote in the Aug. 6, 2007, edition of the journal First Things about what he called the scandal of prominent Catholics supporting abortion rights. Contact 609-258-3270, rgeorge@princeton.edu.

NATIONAL EXPERTS FOR ABORTION RIGHTS

OTHER NATIONAL EXPERTS

Regional sources

STATE-BY-STATE INFORMATION

  • Search Stateline.org for the latest in state activity on abortion.
  • The National Conference of State Legislatures’ website includes a page that links to information on abortion in the states.
  • The Center for Reproductive Rights provides a rundown on abortion bills making their way through state legislatures.
  • The National Organization for Women keeps track of abortion legislation on the state and federal levels.
  • NARAL Pro-Choice America, formerly the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, offers a state-by-state look at abortion legislation.
  • The Guttmacher Institute’s state center offers state-by-state information on abortion laws, trends and teen pregnancy rates.
  • Americans United for Life rates states on “protection-of-life” issues.

IN THE NORTHEAST

  • George J. Annas is professor and chairman of the health law department at the Boston University School of Public Health and an expert on abortion policy. Contact 617-638-4626, annasgj@bu.edu.
  • Jack M. Balkin is Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment and director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. He is an expert on abortion policy. Contact 203-432-1620, jack.balkin@yale.edu.
  • Michele Dillon is professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. She wrote “The American Abortion Debate: Culture War or Normal Discourse?” for the book The American Culture Wars: Current Contests and Future Prospects. Contact 603-862-2925, michele.dillon@unh.edu.
  • Richard Fallon is a constitutional law professor at Harvard. His article “If ‘Roe’ Were Overruled: Abortion and the Constitution in a Post-Roe World” appeared in the St. Louis University Law Journal (2007). Contact 617-495-3215, rfallon@law.harvard.edu.
  • Phillip B. Levine is an economics professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts who applies statistical methods to research on abortion and other social issues. He wrote Sex and Consequences: Abortion, Public Policy and the Economics of Fertility. Contact 781-283-2162, plevine@wellesley.edu.
  • Laurence H. Tribe is a constitutional lawyer and Harvard University law professor. He wrote the book Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes. Contact 617-495-1767, tribe@law.harvard.edu.

IN THE EAST

  • Jonathan E. Brockopp is associate professor of history and religious studies at Penn State. He edited the book Islamic Ethics of Life: Abortion, War and Euthanasia. Contact 814-863-1338, brockopp@psu.edu.
  • Susan Carroll is senior scholar at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics at the Center for American Women and Politics in New Brunswick, N.J. She is an expert on abortion politics. Contact 732-932-9384 ext. 235, scarroll@rci.rutgers.edu.
  • Faye Ginsburg is an anthropology professor at New York University. She wrote the book Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community. Contact 212-998-8558, faye.ginsburg@nyu.edu.
  • Judith Hauptman is the E. Billi Ivry Professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture at The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. She wrote the article “Abortion: Where We Stand” for the journal United Synagogue Review. Contact 212-678-8905, juhauptman@jtsa.edu.
  • Harvey Kornberg is associate professor of political science at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. He has expertise in abortion politics. Contact 609-896-5365, kornberg@rider.edu.
  • Marian Lief Palley is a political science professor at the University of Delaware in Newark and an expert on abortion politics. Contact 302-831-1938, mpalley@udel.edu.
  • Rita J. Simon is professor of justice, law and society for the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. She wrote the book Abortion: Statutes, Policies and Public Attitudes the World Over. Contact 202-885-2965, rsimon@american.edu.
  • James Trussell is professor of economics and public affairs and a faculty associate in the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. He has expertise on the topic of abortion. Contact 609-258-4946, trussell@princeton.edu.
  • W. Clyde Wilcox is a government professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He wrote “Abortion, Gay Rights and Church-State Issues in the 2000 Campaign” for the book Religion and Liberal Democracy: Piety, Politics and Pluralism. Contact 202-687-5273, wilcoxc@georgetown.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

  • Alan Abramowitz is a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta and an expert on abortion politics. Contact 404-727-0108, alan.abramowitz@emory.edu.
  • Simone M. Caron is an associate professor and chair of the history department at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. She has studied the history of abortion. Contact 336-758-5556, caron@wfu.edu.
  • Neal Devins is a law professor at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. He is an expert on abortion law. Contact 757-221-3845, nedevi@wm.edu.
  • Stanley M. Hauerwas is professor of theological ethics at the Divinity School at Duke University in Durham, N.C. He wrote “Why Abortion Is a Religious Issue” for the book The Church and Abortion: In Search of New Ground for Response. Contact 919-660-3420 or through his assistant at carole.baker@duke.edu.
  • Abdulaziz A. Sachedina is the Frances Myers Ball Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and wrote the entry on abortion for the Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an. Contact 434-924-6725, aas@virginia.edu.
  • Christopher Tollefsen is a philosophy professor at the University of South Carolina and co-author of the 2008 book Embryo: A Defense of Human Life. Contact 803-786-1030, Christopher.Tollefsen@gmail.com.

IN THE SOUTH

  • Donald P. Judges is a law professor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He is an expert on the conflict over abortion rights. Contact 479-575-7571,  djudges@uark.edu.
  • Nancy Maveety is a political science professor at Tulane University in New Orleans who specializes in women’s issues. Contact 504-862-8300, nance@tulane.edu.
  • The Rev. Kevin Wildes is president of Loyola University New Orleans. He wrote “The Sanctity of Human Life: Secular Moral Authority, Biomedicine and the Role of the State” for the book Sanctity of Life and Human Dignity. Contact 504-865-3847, pres@loyno.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST

  • Richard Duncan is a law professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and an expert on abortion law. Contact 402-472-6044, rduncan2@unl.edu.
  • Timothy R. Johnson is Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis-St. Paul. He wrote the entry on Roe v. Wade for the Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics. Contact 612-625-2907, trj@umn.edu.
  • Ellen S. Lazarus is an assistant professor of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and an expert in medical ethics and education and abortion politics. Contact ellen.lazarus@case.edu.
  • Daniel C. Maguire is a theology professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee and editor of Sacred Rights: The Case for Contraception and Abortion in World Religions. Contact 414-288-5508, daniel.maguire@marquette.edu.
  • Charles E. Rice is professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame law school. He wrote the article “Abortion, Euthanasia and the Need to Build a New Culture of Life” for the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy (1999). Contact 574-631-5922, Charles.E.Rice.1@nd.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

  • Robert M. Baird is a philosophy professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He co-edited the book The Ethics of Abortion: Pro-Life Vs. Pro-Choice. Contact 254-710-3368, Robert_Baird@baylor.edu.
  • Francis Beckwith is a professor of philosophy and church-state studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He wrote Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice. Contact 254-710-6464, Francis_Beckwith@baylor.edu.
  • Deborah R. McFarlane is a political science professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She co-wrote the book The Politics of Fertility Control. Contact 505-277-7130, dmcf@unm.edu.
  • Barbara Norrander is a political science professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She co-wrote the entry “Public Opinion and Policymaking in the States: The Case of Post-Roe Abortion Policy” for the book The Public Clash of Private Values: The Politics of Morality Policy. Contact 520-621-7600, norrande@arizona.edu.
  • J. Matthew Wilson is a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He is an expert on abortion politics. Contact 214-768-4054, jmwilson@smu.edu.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

  • Ted G. Jelen is a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has followed the role abortion politics plays in elections. He co-edited the book Abortion Politics in the United States: Studies in Public Opinion and co-wrote the book Between Two Absolutes: Public Opinion and the Politics of Abortion. Contact 702-895-3355, jelent@unlv.nevada.edu.
  • James C. Mohr is a history professor at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He is a nationally recognized expert on the abortion issue and author of Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy. He writes that the abortion debate has become a symbolic focal point for a variety of social issues. As a result, abortion politics now has an influence in Congress, the federal judiciary and American foreign policy. Contact 541-346-5903, jmohr@oregon.uoregon.edu.
  • Melody Rose is vice provost for academic programs and instruction at Portland State University. She is also founder of the Center for Women, Politics & Policy, and she is the author of Abortion: A Documentary and Reference Guide and Safe, Legal and Unavailable?: Abortion Politics in the United States. Contact 503-725-9010, rosem@pdx.edu.
  • John E. Seery is a professor of politics at Pomona College in Pomona, Calif. He is an expert on abortion politics and wrote the article “Moral Perfectionism and Abortion Politics” for the journal Polity (2001). Contact 909-607-2458, John_Seery@pomona.edu.
  • The Rev. Robert Spitzer is a Jesuit priest in Irvine, Calif., and author of The Right to Life Movement and Third Party Politics. Contact 949-271-2727, spitzer@magis.us.

 

Copyright © 2013 ReligionLink. Log in
Icons by Wefunction. Designed by Woo Themes

Creative Commons License
Stories on ReligionLink are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.