Unit 7
Abortion

Overview

While women are not of one mind about the right to abortion, feminists generally agree that ensuring women’s control over their reproductive capacities is a prerequisite to full social equality. In this unit, we will examine why. A great deal of time, effort and resources have been spent fighting for reproductive rights for women. Women first fought for the right to exercise reproductive choice free from state control in the Morgentaler case, and have struggled to maintain this right since then. The materials in this unit introduce the basic issues in the abortion debate, address how the debate has been analyzed by courts and provide an opportunity for students to evaluate the extent to which abortion and related issues have been conceptualized as equality issues.

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, students should be able to

1. identify why the legal treatment of abortion is an important issue for women.
2. analyze the competing interests in the abortion debate.
3. compare the decisions in Roe v. Wade and R. v. Morgentaler.
4. evaluate the extent to which equality interests of women have been a factor in legal decisions about abortion.
5. discuss the possible legitimate limits for women’s reproductive choice.