Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-273) and index.
Ch. 1. Approaching Abortion Anew -- Ch. 2. From Roe to Webster -- The Roe Opinion -- Supreme Court Decisions in the Years Following Roe -- Political Responses to the Court's Decision -- The Webster Case -- Ch. 3. Two Centuries of Abortion in America -- From the Revolution Onward -- The Role of the Medical Profession -- The Position of the Roman Catholic Church -- Social and Demographic Forces -- The Early Role of Women's Concerns -- The Nineteenth-Century Laws -- The Early Twentieth Century to 1950 -- The Modern Era: From the 1950s to the 1970s -- Two Tragic Episodes -- Women in the Modern Period -- The Role of Poverty, Race, and Population Concerns -- The Legislative Crescendo: 1967-1973 -- Reform Versus Repeal -- Growth of the Repeal Movement -- The Road Not Taken: What If the Court Had Not Stepped In? -- Ch. 4. Locating Abortion on the World Map -- A Glimpse at Preliterate Societies -- Classical Cultures -- Abortion in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe -- Lessons from Nazi Germany -- Modern Asia: Japan -- Abortion in China -- The Indian Subcontinent -- The Fate of Female Fetuses in Asia -- Great Britain -- Australia -- Revisiting North America: Canada -- Western Europe -- Should We "Import" Europe's Compromise? -- And Back Again -- Ch. 5. Finding Abortion Rights in the Constitution -- Was Roe Rightly Decided? -- The "Judicial Restraint" Objection -- "Legislators and Not Judges Should Decide" -- "The Right to Privacy Is Not in the Constitution's Text" -- The Meaning of the Liberty Clause -- "Incorporation" of the Bill of Rights -- The Question of "Unenumerated" Rights -- Deciding Which Rights Are Specially Protected -- A "Right of Privacy"? -- Does the Presence of a Fetus Automatically Negate the "Private" -- Character of the Abortion Decision? -- At How Specific a Level Must "Rights" Be Defined? -- Privacy: Who Decides Whether to Terminate a Pregnancy? -- Equality: Abortion Rights and Sex Discrimination -- The "Original Understanding" of the Framers -- Judicial Legislation? -- What's at Stake? -- Ch. 6. The Equation's Other Side: Does It Matter Whether the Fetus Is a Person? -- Is the Fetus a Person? -- An Inherently Religious Question? -- Looking for the Answer in Science -- Looking for the Answer in the Constitution -- Letting Each State Define "Person" for Itself -- Taking the Constitution Seriously -- And What If a Fetus Were a Person? -- The Good Samaritan -- Roe's Vision -- The Lines Drawn -- Ch. 7. The Politics of Abortion: From a New Right to the "New Right" -- The Effects of Roe -- Pro-Choice Reaction to Roe -- Pro-Life Reaction to Roe -- The 1976 Election: The Roots of Single-Issue Politics -- A Change in Approach: A Constitutional Convention? -- Restrictions in Congress: Abortion Funding -- Fundamentalist Christians, Catholics, and the New Right -- Ch. 8. The Politics of Abortion: The Pro-Life Advocates in Power -- The 1980 Election: The Reagan Era -- The 1984 Campaign: Attacking the Church-State "Wall of -- Separation" -- The Judiciary: The Real "Reagan Revolution" -- The 1988 Election: Kinder and Gentler? -- Operation Rescue -- The Coming of Webster -- After Webster: The Pro-Choice Backlash -- A New Role For Congress: Post-Webster Freedom of Choice -- Legislation -- The Political Landscape in the 1990s -- The Effects of Roe - Revisited -- Does the Reaction to Webster Indirectly Safeguard Choice? -- Ch. 9. In Search of Compromise -- Consent Requirements -- Notification Provisions -- Waiting Periods -- Limiting the Reasons for Which Abortion Will Be Allowed -- Abortion Funding -- Restricting Clinics -- Earlier Cutoff Dates -- Cruel Compromises -- Humane Options -- Postnatal Care -- Birth Control Education and the Provision of Contraceptives -- Using Technology to Circumvent Destiny: Better Contraceptive Techniques -- Newer Technologies: RU-486 -- Marketing the Drug -- FDA Approval -- The More Distant Future: An Artificial Womb -- Shedding New Light on Old Attitudes: Splitting the Woman's Right in Two -- Still More Light: How Technology Can Force Us to Confront the Unexamined Costs We Have Imposed on Women -- Toward Common Ground -- Ch. 10. Beyond the Clash of Absolutes -- Looking Inward: What Our Views of Abortion Can Teach Us About Ourselves -- From the Right to Life to the Right to Die -- Separating the Strands Underlying Pro-Life Sentiment -- Exploring the Rape and Incest Exception -- Frozen Embryos -- Fetal Endangerment: Child Abuse? -- Absolutes or Contingents? -- How We See and Talk to One Another -- Appendix: Abortion Case Law