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Liberty and Sexuality, the Right to Privacy and the Making of Roe v. Wade
Pulitzer-prize winner Garrow ( Bearing the Cross ) traces the struggle over sexual freedom from cases in the 1920s and 1930s, over the legality of using birth control, to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. He also considers the fate of sexual freedom after Roe v. Wade. A huge book about a huge subject. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
800 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
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370 people want to read
About the author
David J. Garrow
37 books63 followersDavid J. Garrow is Professor of Law & History and Distinguished Faculty Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 11, 2016
3.5
Disclaimer: Arc via Netgalley, courtesy of Open Road Media.
Damn you Open Road Media. You keep approving me for these books and then I feel guilty because it is impossible to write a long review for some them. Then I feel guilty. (Yeah, I know, but I swear guilt is my default setting. I’m trying to change, I am).
Okay, to say that this book is dry would be fair. At the most basic, it is a legal history of birth control and abortion from the later days of Sanger to the 1990s. Undoubtedly, a legal student or scholar would get more out of it than a general reader. But Garrow does a very good job at making what is dry in subject matter, very readable.
Yet, this is a book that you must read if you are woman – regardless of how you feel about abortion.
And you should read it if you are a man.
Hell, you should read it if you live in the United States.
I use to tell people that to talk about abortion they needed to read Roe vs. Wade in some form – an edited version of the dissent and decision at the very least. Now, I am going to say Roe vs. Wade and Garrow’s work. I understand more about the debate and history then I did before. Garrow does humanize some of the players (and not just the ones you would think); he also illustrates the history that gets lost in the argument. Everyone knows about the coat hangers and such because of buttons, but there are facts in here that are even more shocking and disturbing the development of the law. It’s true, most of the focus is on the East Coast but considering the history, this isn’t all that surprising. And it is a legal history, not a general one.
And I really don't know what else to say about this book. Isn't that enough?
Okay, one more thing:
I want to thank Open Road Media. Long ago, they became one of the “reliable” publishers for me. You know a publisher where if you haven’t heard of the author, you are still willing to try it simply because of the publishing house. A good portion of what Open Road does is make back listed books available for the ereader. I applaud the fact that much of these books are connected to important topics or important topics in history – for instance their Forbidden Library Series. I applaud the fact that Open Road Media publishes a great many books for women that deal with women’s issues. Honestly, I can’t thank them enough for it. I would not have read this book at this time (perhaps ever) without their reissue. Garrow’s book makes a good companion to another Open Road re-Issue – The Search for An Abortionist. (Open Road Media may not be a strictly Feminist Press, but it does seem to be feminist in a great many books).
Disclaimer: Arc via Netgalley, courtesy of Open Road Media.
Damn you Open Road Media. You keep approving me for these books and then I feel guilty because it is impossible to write a long review for some them. Then I feel guilty. (Yeah, I know, but I swear guilt is my default setting. I’m trying to change, I am).
Okay, to say that this book is dry would be fair. At the most basic, it is a legal history of birth control and abortion from the later days of Sanger to the 1990s. Undoubtedly, a legal student or scholar would get more out of it than a general reader. But Garrow does a very good job at making what is dry in subject matter, very readable.
Yet, this is a book that you must read if you are woman – regardless of how you feel about abortion.
And you should read it if you are a man.
Hell, you should read it if you live in the United States.
I use to tell people that to talk about abortion they needed to read Roe vs. Wade in some form – an edited version of the dissent and decision at the very least. Now, I am going to say Roe vs. Wade and Garrow’s work. I understand more about the debate and history then I did before. Garrow does humanize some of the players (and not just the ones you would think); he also illustrates the history that gets lost in the argument. Everyone knows about the coat hangers and such because of buttons, but there are facts in here that are even more shocking and disturbing the development of the law. It’s true, most of the focus is on the East Coast but considering the history, this isn’t all that surprising. And it is a legal history, not a general one.
And I really don't know what else to say about this book. Isn't that enough?
Okay, one more thing:
I want to thank Open Road Media. Long ago, they became one of the “reliable” publishers for me. You know a publisher where if you haven’t heard of the author, you are still willing to try it simply because of the publishing house. A good portion of what Open Road does is make back listed books available for the ereader. I applaud the fact that much of these books are connected to important topics or important topics in history – for instance their Forbidden Library Series. I applaud the fact that Open Road Media publishes a great many books for women that deal with women’s issues. Honestly, I can’t thank them enough for it. I would not have read this book at this time (perhaps ever) without their reissue. Garrow’s book makes a good companion to another Open Road re-Issue – The Search for An Abortionist. (Open Road Media may not be a strictly Feminist Press, but it does seem to be feminist in a great many books).
August 11, 2017
While I disagree with the perspective from which this book is written, it provides an important and detailed history from which many important lessons can be gleaned.
February 14, 2023
AN EXHAUSTIVE HISTORY OF THE ABORTION DECISION
Author David J. Garrow begins this 1995 book with a detailed history (legislative and judicial) of birth control in the U.S. In the first chapter, he quotes a doctor who explained, “[A gynecological clinic] includes the normal course of its work the giving of some information on birth control… [but such advice] is provided purely on a health basis. A woman whose health would be seriously endangered by child bearing might get medical advice at the clinic on birth control, but not robust, healthy women.” (Pg. 4) He adds, “on October 16, 1916, along with her sister and fellow nurse Ethel Byrne, and several other women supporters, Margaret Sanger opened America’s first public birth control clinic… [in] Brooklyn.” (Pg. 12)
He recounts, “In late November [1959] birth control became a front-page national issue when a number of Roman Catholic bishops… issued a public statement denouncing any use of public funds… to disseminate birth control services… Survey data indicated that 81 percent of married white women … now used or had used contraceptive devices… and that approximately 38 percent of Roman Catholic women … also used devices and methods that their church hierarchy condemned… there was a very large .. gap between the practices of Catholic lay people and the proclamation of church officials.” (Pg. 164)
He notes that “a well-publicized article by Catholic physician John Rock… recommend[ed] that ‘All restrictions, written or unwritten, should be lifted’ from the public provision of birth control.” (Pg. 198) Later, he adds that Rock was “himself a good friend of … Cardinal Cushing---published a small but heavily publicized book entitled ‘The Time Has Come: A Catholic Doctor’s Proposals to End the Battle Over Birth Control.’” (Pg. 218) After the 1965 Griswold case, a Catholic archbishop observed, “Catholics… recognize this decision as a valid interpretation of constitutional law. However… this is a judicial opinion, and in no way involves the morality of the question.” (Pg. 256)
Turning to abortion, he reports that “In 1828… New York became the first American state to … enact[] a statute that made abortion at any stage… a felony… Still, enforcement of the new standard was erratic… and by 1850, by one expert’s … estimate, ‘American women was aborting at least one of every five pregnancies.’” (Pg. 271) He adds, “As of even the early 1950s… the level of open discussion of the subject… abortion made news only when gruesome deaths or notable criminal convictions supplied an occasion.” (Pg. 275)
He observes, “By May 1965 an important new factor [entered]… the abortion picture… The new element was rubella… any woman who caught it during the early stages of a pregnancy ran about a 50 percent risk that she would deliver a seriously damaged fetus.” (Pg. 300) Abortion advocates “turn to … a new and younger generation … whose unquestioned inclinations ran toward repeal rather than reform…” (Pg. 334) He adds, “Another significant … call for repeal… came at the second annual convention of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in … 1967… [where] well-known author Betty Friedan pressed the issue of endorsing abortion law repeal… NOW has not previously addressed the issue.” (Pg. 343)
But in the 1960s, “Norma Nelson McCorvey… [with an] all but openly bisexual life-style… [said] ‘every time I went to bed with a man I got pregnant’… Both attorneys appreciated that Norma’s highly unsettled life and … emotionally vulnerable personality meant that she might not prove to be the most stable or dependable of plaintiffs… By late February [they] were beginning to sketch out the beginnings of a formal complaint … for Norma McCorvey, who would be called Jane Roe, and for David and Marsha King, who would be spoken of … [as] John and Jane Doe.” (Pg. 402-405) Their complaint alleged that the anti-abortion statute “infringe upon Roe’s right to privacy in the physician-patient relationship… [and] that the law encroached upon ‘plaintiffs right to marital privacy.’” (Pg. 406)
He summarizes, “In retrospect, 1970 would undeniably appear as the definitive year in America’s abortion revolution.” (Pg. 471) He notes, “much of the opposition appeared to be emerging from the Roman Catholic hierarchy and from the newly visible National Right to Life Committee (NRLC)… there were more and more signs that antiabortion forces were ‘gaining momentum’…” (Pg. 483-484)
Supreme Court justice Brennan stated, “The right to privacy in the matter of abortions… mean d that the decision is that of the woman and her alone… the reasons for an abortion may not be prescribed.” (Pg. 537) He recounts, “public opinion figures … showed that 64 percent of respondents---including a remarkable 56 majority of Roman Catholics---agreed that ‘the decision to have an abortion should be made solely by the woman and her physician.’” (Pg. 563)
Sarah Weddington noted that “even [antiabortion lawyer] Flowers had acknowledged that no one could prove when ‘life’ begins… ‘We are not here to advocate abortion… We are here to advocate that the decision as to whether or not a particular woman will … terminate a pregnancy is a decision that should be made by the individual… she has a constitutional right to make that decision for herself.’” (Pg. 570-571) Justice Blackmun “addressed … the legislative purpose [that] underlay … antiabortion laws… In the nineteenth century… abortion had been highly dangerous for a pregnant woman, but present-day … abortion in early pregnancy… is now relatively safe.” (Pg. 590)
He summarizes about the aftermath of the decision, “It had been a long time in coming---nearly two years… but really it had been almost fifty years since Kit Hepburn had first welcomed Margaret Sanger to Hartford and more than thirty-three years since the priests of Waterbury had made it clear that Bill Fitzgerald had better enforce that statute… But in the end, it had seemed far easier than Roy Lucas had envisioned in 1967, or Alan Guttmacher in 1963, or than Fowler and Estelle had found their challenge in 1958, or Kit Hepburn and Sallie Pease in that summer of 1939… But in the end, Harry Blackmun grasped perhaps the simplest but … the most long-forgotten truth of all: ‘Roe against Wade was not such a revolutionary opinion at the time.’” (Pg. 599)
He notes, “Norma McCorvey had heard nothing at all … for many months when she suddenly saw the front-page newspaper article reporting the Supreme Court’s decision… Norma later explained, ‘in a way I felt cheated because I didn’t benefit’ from the long-awaited victory...” (Pg. 600)
He acknowledges, “Any number of legal writers would go on to make the point that some alternative term or concept other than ‘privacy,’ such as either ‘autonomy’ of simply ‘liberty,’ ought to be frankly acknowledged as the substantive core of what was at issue… some criticiz[ed] … [the decision] for being too solicitous of doctors and insufficiently supportive of women’s individual liberty of choice above and beyond whatever medical advice they might be offered by one or another physician… [the Court’s language] portrays the doctor and not the patient as the primary decision-maker in the abortion context.’” (Pg. 614)
He notes, “Abortion opponents showed increasing signs of popular support, however, and in the fall of 1973 the National Conference of Catholic Bishops publicly highlighted ‘the need for grassroots prolife organization ‘ on behalf of a ‘right to life’ constitutional amendment…” (Pg. 617) He adds, “antiabortion activists intensified their attacks on women’s right to choose. Anonymous terrorists bombed pro-choice facilities… attention was being drawn to the right to life cause by a new film, ‘The Silent Scream,’ which … drew most of its power from the narration of onetime NARAL activist Bernie Nathanson, now an antiabortion crusader. But terrorist violence against clinics remained the principal abortion story.” (Pg.. 650-651) After the murder of abortion doctor David Gunn, “the president of Texans United for Life… [argued] Responsible leaders have to speak out against this. If they don’t we will just become a bunch of terrorists.” (Pg. 703)
This immensely detailed book will be “must reading” for anyone seriously studying abortion rights in this country.
Author David J. Garrow begins this 1995 book with a detailed history (legislative and judicial) of birth control in the U.S. In the first chapter, he quotes a doctor who explained, “[A gynecological clinic] includes the normal course of its work the giving of some information on birth control… [but such advice] is provided purely on a health basis. A woman whose health would be seriously endangered by child bearing might get medical advice at the clinic on birth control, but not robust, healthy women.” (Pg. 4) He adds, “on October 16, 1916, along with her sister and fellow nurse Ethel Byrne, and several other women supporters, Margaret Sanger opened America’s first public birth control clinic… [in] Brooklyn.” (Pg. 12)
He recounts, “In late November [1959] birth control became a front-page national issue when a number of Roman Catholic bishops… issued a public statement denouncing any use of public funds… to disseminate birth control services… Survey data indicated that 81 percent of married white women … now used or had used contraceptive devices… and that approximately 38 percent of Roman Catholic women … also used devices and methods that their church hierarchy condemned… there was a very large .. gap between the practices of Catholic lay people and the proclamation of church officials.” (Pg. 164)
He notes that “a well-publicized article by Catholic physician John Rock… recommend[ed] that ‘All restrictions, written or unwritten, should be lifted’ from the public provision of birth control.” (Pg. 198) Later, he adds that Rock was “himself a good friend of … Cardinal Cushing---published a small but heavily publicized book entitled ‘The Time Has Come: A Catholic Doctor’s Proposals to End the Battle Over Birth Control.’” (Pg. 218) After the 1965 Griswold case, a Catholic archbishop observed, “Catholics… recognize this decision as a valid interpretation of constitutional law. However… this is a judicial opinion, and in no way involves the morality of the question.” (Pg. 256)
Turning to abortion, he reports that “In 1828… New York became the first American state to … enact[] a statute that made abortion at any stage… a felony… Still, enforcement of the new standard was erratic… and by 1850, by one expert’s … estimate, ‘American women was aborting at least one of every five pregnancies.’” (Pg. 271) He adds, “As of even the early 1950s… the level of open discussion of the subject… abortion made news only when gruesome deaths or notable criminal convictions supplied an occasion.” (Pg. 275)
He observes, “By May 1965 an important new factor [entered]… the abortion picture… The new element was rubella… any woman who caught it during the early stages of a pregnancy ran about a 50 percent risk that she would deliver a seriously damaged fetus.” (Pg. 300) Abortion advocates “turn to … a new and younger generation … whose unquestioned inclinations ran toward repeal rather than reform…” (Pg. 334) He adds, “Another significant … call for repeal… came at the second annual convention of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in … 1967… [where] well-known author Betty Friedan pressed the issue of endorsing abortion law repeal… NOW has not previously addressed the issue.” (Pg. 343)
But in the 1960s, “Norma Nelson McCorvey… [with an] all but openly bisexual life-style… [said] ‘every time I went to bed with a man I got pregnant’… Both attorneys appreciated that Norma’s highly unsettled life and … emotionally vulnerable personality meant that she might not prove to be the most stable or dependable of plaintiffs… By late February [they] were beginning to sketch out the beginnings of a formal complaint … for Norma McCorvey, who would be called Jane Roe, and for David and Marsha King, who would be spoken of … [as] John and Jane Doe.” (Pg. 402-405) Their complaint alleged that the anti-abortion statute “infringe upon Roe’s right to privacy in the physician-patient relationship… [and] that the law encroached upon ‘plaintiffs right to marital privacy.’” (Pg. 406)
He summarizes, “In retrospect, 1970 would undeniably appear as the definitive year in America’s abortion revolution.” (Pg. 471) He notes, “much of the opposition appeared to be emerging from the Roman Catholic hierarchy and from the newly visible National Right to Life Committee (NRLC)… there were more and more signs that antiabortion forces were ‘gaining momentum’…” (Pg. 483-484)
Supreme Court justice Brennan stated, “The right to privacy in the matter of abortions… mean d that the decision is that of the woman and her alone… the reasons for an abortion may not be prescribed.” (Pg. 537) He recounts, “public opinion figures … showed that 64 percent of respondents---including a remarkable 56 majority of Roman Catholics---agreed that ‘the decision to have an abortion should be made solely by the woman and her physician.’” (Pg. 563)
Sarah Weddington noted that “even [antiabortion lawyer] Flowers had acknowledged that no one could prove when ‘life’ begins… ‘We are not here to advocate abortion… We are here to advocate that the decision as to whether or not a particular woman will … terminate a pregnancy is a decision that should be made by the individual… she has a constitutional right to make that decision for herself.’” (Pg. 570-571) Justice Blackmun “addressed … the legislative purpose [that] underlay … antiabortion laws… In the nineteenth century… abortion had been highly dangerous for a pregnant woman, but present-day … abortion in early pregnancy… is now relatively safe.” (Pg. 590)
He summarizes about the aftermath of the decision, “It had been a long time in coming---nearly two years… but really it had been almost fifty years since Kit Hepburn had first welcomed Margaret Sanger to Hartford and more than thirty-three years since the priests of Waterbury had made it clear that Bill Fitzgerald had better enforce that statute… But in the end, it had seemed far easier than Roy Lucas had envisioned in 1967, or Alan Guttmacher in 1963, or than Fowler and Estelle had found their challenge in 1958, or Kit Hepburn and Sallie Pease in that summer of 1939… But in the end, Harry Blackmun grasped perhaps the simplest but … the most long-forgotten truth of all: ‘Roe against Wade was not such a revolutionary opinion at the time.’” (Pg. 599)
He notes, “Norma McCorvey had heard nothing at all … for many months when she suddenly saw the front-page newspaper article reporting the Supreme Court’s decision… Norma later explained, ‘in a way I felt cheated because I didn’t benefit’ from the long-awaited victory...” (Pg. 600)
He acknowledges, “Any number of legal writers would go on to make the point that some alternative term or concept other than ‘privacy,’ such as either ‘autonomy’ of simply ‘liberty,’ ought to be frankly acknowledged as the substantive core of what was at issue… some criticiz[ed] … [the decision] for being too solicitous of doctors and insufficiently supportive of women’s individual liberty of choice above and beyond whatever medical advice they might be offered by one or another physician… [the Court’s language] portrays the doctor and not the patient as the primary decision-maker in the abortion context.’” (Pg. 614)
He notes, “Abortion opponents showed increasing signs of popular support, however, and in the fall of 1973 the National Conference of Catholic Bishops publicly highlighted ‘the need for grassroots prolife organization ‘ on behalf of a ‘right to life’ constitutional amendment…” (Pg. 617) He adds, “antiabortion activists intensified their attacks on women’s right to choose. Anonymous terrorists bombed pro-choice facilities… attention was being drawn to the right to life cause by a new film, ‘The Silent Scream,’ which … drew most of its power from the narration of onetime NARAL activist Bernie Nathanson, now an antiabortion crusader. But terrorist violence against clinics remained the principal abortion story.” (Pg.. 650-651) After the murder of abortion doctor David Gunn, “the president of Texans United for Life… [argued] Responsible leaders have to speak out against this. If they don’t we will just become a bunch of terrorists.” (Pg. 703)
This immensely detailed book will be “must reading” for anyone seriously studying abortion rights in this country.
June 28, 2022
I bought a copy of this book and read it after a friend in the pro-family movement called it "the Rosetta Stone of the sexual revolution." It's actually not that. Instead, it is a detailed (excruciatingly detailed) history of the political and legal events that led to the Supreme Court decision declaring abortion to be a constitutional right (Roe v. Wade, 1973).
Although the book is ostensibly about Roe, the first 269 pages describe the path to the court's 1965 decision (Griswold v. Connecticut) which said states cannot ban contraception by married couples, based on an unwritten "right to privacy" that eventually laid a foundation for Roe. In addition, the book features a long (100-page) final chapter describing the aftermath of Roe, up to the Court's 1992 decision (Planned Parenthood v. Casey) that re-affirmed a right to abortion.
I made a point of trying to finish the book before the Supreme Court handed down its June 24, 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization--in which the Court overturned both Roe and Casey. That decision makes this book a historical artifact--whose epilogue includes the now wholly erroneous declaration that "the trio of Justices O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter guaranteed [in Casey] that the legacy of Kit Hepburn, of Griswold, and of Roe v. Wade would be enshrined beside Brown [v. Board of Education--the Court's 1954 school desegregation case] for all time in America's constitutional pantheon."
The author, David J. Garrow, is obviously sympathetic to the Roe and Casey decisions; I, as a pro-life person, am not. But that is not why I gave the book two stars. Although Garrow obviously did meticulous research, this book is the type of writing I run across too often--something that would be twice as good if it was half as long. It contains far too much minutiae about such things as internal rivalries among the lawyers on the same side, and surprisingly little about the actual philosophical arguments at stake (especially short-changing any arguments that the unborn child is a human being entitled to the right to life).
And despite the massive research, I found it massively frustrating how Garrow chose to cite his sources. Instead of footnoting each fact (a process which, admittedly, would have resulted in thousands of footnotes), Garrow footnotes each paragraph. If, therefore, one wants to identify a specific source, one must go to the note and then compare the note (listing dozens of sources in a row) with the paragraph in an effort to discern which source goes with which fact. An additional annoying (and unnecessary) characteristic of Garrow's writing was using cryptic descriptions of people in the text rather than their names--again forcing a time-consuming hunt through the notes to identify the person. (For example, in a paragraph describing how many people did not understand who Griswold was in the case that bore her name, Garrow writes, "One supportive but sometimes addled United States Senator took matters one creative step further . . ." I had to check the footnote to learn that the senator in question was Ted Kennedy.)
I would not recommend that anyone sit down and read this book from beginning to end, like I did. However, if you have need of a reference work that contains a blow-by-blow (almost day-by-day) history of the legal debates over contraception and abortion in the 20th century, this would be worth having on your shelf.
Although the book is ostensibly about Roe, the first 269 pages describe the path to the court's 1965 decision (Griswold v. Connecticut) which said states cannot ban contraception by married couples, based on an unwritten "right to privacy" that eventually laid a foundation for Roe. In addition, the book features a long (100-page) final chapter describing the aftermath of Roe, up to the Court's 1992 decision (Planned Parenthood v. Casey) that re-affirmed a right to abortion.
I made a point of trying to finish the book before the Supreme Court handed down its June 24, 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization--in which the Court overturned both Roe and Casey. That decision makes this book a historical artifact--whose epilogue includes the now wholly erroneous declaration that "the trio of Justices O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter guaranteed [in Casey] that the legacy of Kit Hepburn, of Griswold, and of Roe v. Wade would be enshrined beside Brown [v. Board of Education--the Court's 1954 school desegregation case] for all time in America's constitutional pantheon."
The author, David J. Garrow, is obviously sympathetic to the Roe and Casey decisions; I, as a pro-life person, am not. But that is not why I gave the book two stars. Although Garrow obviously did meticulous research, this book is the type of writing I run across too often--something that would be twice as good if it was half as long. It contains far too much minutiae about such things as internal rivalries among the lawyers on the same side, and surprisingly little about the actual philosophical arguments at stake (especially short-changing any arguments that the unborn child is a human being entitled to the right to life).
And despite the massive research, I found it massively frustrating how Garrow chose to cite his sources. Instead of footnoting each fact (a process which, admittedly, would have resulted in thousands of footnotes), Garrow footnotes each paragraph. If, therefore, one wants to identify a specific source, one must go to the note and then compare the note (listing dozens of sources in a row) with the paragraph in an effort to discern which source goes with which fact. An additional annoying (and unnecessary) characteristic of Garrow's writing was using cryptic descriptions of people in the text rather than their names--again forcing a time-consuming hunt through the notes to identify the person. (For example, in a paragraph describing how many people did not understand who Griswold was in the case that bore her name, Garrow writes, "One supportive but sometimes addled United States Senator took matters one creative step further . . ." I had to check the footnote to learn that the senator in question was Ted Kennedy.)
I would not recommend that anyone sit down and read this book from beginning to end, like I did. However, if you have need of a reference work that contains a blow-by-blow (almost day-by-day) history of the legal debates over contraception and abortion in the 20th century, this would be worth having on your shelf.
July 8, 2019
A fascinating history of the struggle for reproductive rights, tracing the beginning of Planned Parenthood up through the Griswold decision into the majority opinion of Roe v. Wade, which was written by a Republican SCOTUS appointment. Understanding why the courts were so vital in advancing the right to privacy is central to having an informed discussion of reproductive rights today. Highly recommend.
January 7, 2023
This is a tome, but explains the underpinnings of Roe, how the crafty women of CT backed the boys of the SC into a corner, and how we realign to legalize the right to choose.
April 8, 2015
Exhaustive and slightly exhausting. Very informative and written in a fashion that is accessible to the layperson. The first half, describing the run up to and litigation of Griswold, is unsurprisingly (given its 1994 publication date) stronger and more thoroughly researched than the latter portion, discussing the post-Roe landscape and the fall-out from the Casey decision. It does leave one with the impression that this will never really be fully settled case law, and also underscores how very important near term Supreme Court appointments will be for continued abortion access.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews