Abortion Rates in the United States

You Have 0 Item(s) In Cart |

My Account |

Order Status |

Check Out |

Abortion Rates in the United States
The Influence of Opinion and Policy

Click on image to enlarge

Matthew E. Wetstein - Author

SUNY series in Health Care Politics and Policy

Price: $48.50
Hardcover - 153 pages

Release Date: February 1996

ISBN10: 0-7914-2847-8
ISBN13: 978-0-7914-2847-4

Price: $26.95
Paperback - 153 pages

Release Date: February 1996

ISBN10: 0-7914-2848-6
ISBN13: 978-0-7914-2848-1

Available as a Google eBook for other eReaders and tablet devices. Click icon below...

Summary

Demonstrates that individual state policies on abortion closely reflect public opinion in that state and affect abortion rates, whereas national policy and policy changes have no real effect on abortion rates.

"Abortion Rates in the United States features a comprehensive treatment of an important policy topic in a single volume and incorporates sophisticated methodologies to advance our understanding of the dynamics of abortion policy. It will be received as a major advance in abortion policy studies." -- Keith J. Mueller, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Few studies make a direct connection between public opinion, public policies, and the behavior of the mass public. This book demonstrates for the first time that such a connection can be found when examining abortion politics in the United States. Using public opinion data for all fifty states, the author demonstrates that state policies to restrict abortion closely match the preferences of the mass public. More important, he shows a profound link between public opinion on abortion and abortion rates in the United States. Where state publics are more permissive in their attitudes toward abortion, state policies tend to be more permissive, and rates of abortion utilization tend to be higher.

The book also explores the impact of policy changes on abortion rates. Using sophisticated statistical techniques, the author examines policy changes at both the state and national level. The analysis points to an intriguing paradox: national policy changes have no real effect on abortion rates, yet state policy changes do. This finding suggests that the states are the place to look for significant changes in abortion utilization in response to policy.

"The best feature of this book is its synthesis of the research on abortion rates and access to abortion in the years after Roe v. Wade. Anyone doing research on this subject in coming years will turn to this work as a standard resource." -- D. Grier Stephenson, Jr., Franklin and Marshall College

Matthew E. Wetstein is Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at University of the Pacific and the Department of Politics and Public Administration at California State University, Stanislaus.

Table of Contents

Figures

Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. The Link Between Public Opinion and Policy

2. The Supreme Court and Abortion Policy

3. The Impact of Policy Change: Courts and Legislatures

4. The Structure and Stability of Attitudes on Abortion

5. State Public Policy: Opinion and Abortion Policy

6. Abortion Policy in the United States

7. Explaining Abortion Rates in the United States

8. Conclusion

References

Index

Related Subjects

Health Care
Legal Studies
Public Administration
Political Science
Public Policy
Public Opinion
State and Local Politics
Women's Studies

31320/31321(CM//FK)

Related Titles


Dilemmas of Representation	The State in Socialist Society	Political Obligation in a Liberal State	Party Transformations in European Democracies	Democratic Theories and the Constitution
The Bill of Rights	Black Political Mobilization, Leadership, Power and Mass Behavior	Political Communication	Restructuring Development Theories and Policies	Critical Theory, Public Policy, and Planning Practice