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CHAPTER 4. ABORTION DISCOURSE IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE 62
This argument expands those made by Evans (1978), McAdam (1988) and Evans
& Boyte (1986), in emphasizing the importance of both micro-level and macrolevel
developments. For example, Evans & Boyte (1986) focus on the existence
of “free spaces,” autonomous places where individuals were able to gather to discover
that the grievances they felt were shared by others, and document the importance
of such free spaces in various social movements throughout American
history.
The abortion reform movement attracted the attention of various interest groups
in the 1960s. In 1964, the New York Academy of Medicine endorsed the ALI
approach (discussed above on page 66), suggesting that most of the medical profession
and public did not support the restrictive abortion laws then on the books
in the States. By the mid-sixties, womens organizations entered the abortion
debate for the first time. The National Organization for Women (NOW) addressed
abortion laws in 1967. The National Association for Repeal of Abortion
Laws (NARAL, later renamed the National Abortion Rights Action League)
(Sitaraman 1994) was organized the following year. As a result, the abortion debate
was recast into an issue of women’s rights and civil rights, and had the effect
of challenging physicians control over abortion decisions.
The high point of the reformist movement was the Roe v. Wade decision by the
United States Supreme Court in 1973. This decision invalidated state laws prohibiting
abortion during the early stages of pregnancy, and set conditions under
which abortion could be regulated by the states during latter stages of pregnancy.
This decision also served to permanently recast the abortion issue into one of the
most contentious and divisive political issue in the 20th century, and thus marks
the beginning of the third phase of abortion policy in American history.
The third and current phase of the abortion issue in American history is organized
around the questions of constitutionally protected rights, and the balance to be
struck between the rights of women and the rights of fetuses prior to birth. The
Roe case established, for the first time, that the right to privacy (itself elucidated
by the Supreme Court less than ten years earlier in the Griswold case) included
the right of a woman to obtain an abortion during the early stages of pregnancy.
Though the broad and sweeping rights established by Roe have been modified and
limited in the ensuing years amid a wide variety of disputes – the essential holding
of Roe remains.
Abortion has become an important part of most aspects of American politics,
including elections, legislation, judicial appointments, interest groups and so-