Beyond pro-life and pro-choice : the changing politics of abortion in Britain / by Fran Amery.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Amery, Fran, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Abortion--Great Britain.

Abortion.

Abortion--Law and legislation--Great Britain.

Abortion--Government policy--Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vi, 228 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bristol : Bristol University Press, 2020.

Summary:

Examining the changing pluralities of contemporary abortion debate in Britain, this innovative and important book shows why it is necessary to move beyond an understanding of abortion politics as characterised in binary terms by 'pro-choice' versus 'pro-life'. Amery traces the evolution of political and parliamentary discourses from the passage of the Abortion Act in the 1960s to the present day, and argues that the current provision of abortion in Britain rests on assumptions about medical authority over women's reproductive decision-making which are unsustainable. She explores new arguments around sex-selective abortion, disability rights, pre-abortion counselling and the push for decriminalization, and radically reconceptualizes the debate to account for these new battlegrounds in abortion politics.

Contents:

Cover

Beyond Pro-Life and Pro-Choice

Copyright page

Table of contents

List of Tables

List of abbreviations

Acknowledgments

1 Introduction

Interpreting abortion law

Where we are now

Analysing abortion debates

Structure of the book

2 Regulating the Female Body

Pregnancy, motherhood and feminism

Abortion and women's status

The history of abortion law

Making sense of history

Complicating feminist accounts

The significance of abortion

3 Passing the Abortion Act 1967

The origins of the Abortion Act 1967

Medical opinion before the Act

The medical reformists

The medical purists

The 'social doctor'

Second Reading

Committee stage

Report stage

Lords

Women, motherhood and mental health

Notifications

After the Act

Social questions, medical answers

4 Feminism Enters the Debate

Contesting the Abortion Act 1967

Defending the status quo

Parliamentary debates

The Lane Committee, 1971-74

Feminism in the debate

Narrating 'acceptable' abortion

Feminism in Parliament

Pro-woman language in anti-abortion discourse

The Irvine Bill, 1969-70

The White Bill, 1974-75

The Benyon Bill, 1976-77

The Corrie Bill, 1979-80

Female vice and virtue in the debates

'Brazen' and 'broken' women

Abortion 'scandals' and national identity

Dealing with the 'woman problem'

5 Backlash and Appropriation

The early 1980s: continuity and change

The Richardson Bill, 1981

The Robertson Bill, 1982

Defending the Abortion Act 1967

Feminism, medicine and female virtue

Feminist demands

Medicalization and technicization

Female virtue and acceptable abortion

Anti-abortion discourse

Virtue, vice and 'frivolous' abortion

Foetal subjects

Appropriation and backlash

The 1990s: anti-abortion politics in decline?.

Early medical abortion

Keeping the debate alive

Tackling the backlash

6 Into the 21st Century

Prohibition, counselling and cooling off

Medical purity, progress and a 'right to know'

Feminists respond

The Department of Health responds

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill 2008

Report of the Science and Technology Committee

Anti-abortion arguments

Feminist arguments

Northern Ireland

After the HFE Act 2008

Pro-choicers on the back foot

7 Towards Decriminalization? New Battlegrounds in Abortion Politics

The changing climate of abortion opinion

Medical opinion

Devolution and abortion provision

Buffer zones

The decriminalization campaign

Campaigning for decriminalization

Campaigning against decriminalization

In Parliament

New battlegrounds: sex selection

The Stop Gendercide campaign

Defeating the campaign

New battlegrounds: disability

A reinvigorated pro-choice politics

8 Conclusion

Abortion rights advocacy in context

Anti-abortion politics in context

Interrogating 'choice'

The future of abortion politics

Notes

References

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 19 Mar 2021).

ISBN:

1-5292-0536-0

1-5292-0540-9

OCLC:

1292424768