Abortion: Statutes, Policies, and Public Attitudes the World Over

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Abortion is one of the most compelling public policy issues facing government and the public in the United States today. Most societies have enacted laws and statutes regarding abortion, and most societies have strong feelings regarding birth control and abortion. But the legal statutes and attitudes follow markedly different approaches. Simon examines how this issue is being faced in the United States, Canada, a sample of Western and Eastern European countries, Middle Eastern, African, and Latin American societies, and, among Asian countries, Japan, China, and India, along with Australia. After a brief historical introduction, Simon examines the legal statutes pertaining to abortion in the selected countries and then reviews public attitudes toward abortion based on responses to national public opinion polls. She concludes by discussing the relationships between the laws and statutes pertaining to abortion and the nations' policies vis-^D`a-vis population growth and control. Abortion is the first volume in a series that will examine major public policy issues using an explicitly comparative approach. Each will serve as a handbook for students, researchers, and scholars, containing basic empirical data and comprehensive references on the social issue or practice under examination.

Author Bio

RITA J. SIMON is Professor of Justice at American University. She has written extensively on law, justice, and societal issues. Among her earlier publications are In the Golden Land: A Century of Russian and Soviet Jewish Immigration (Praeger, 1997) and Rabbis, Lawyers, Immigrants, Thieves: Women's Roles in America (Praeger, 1993).