Policy Press

Beyond Pro-life and Pro-choice

The Changing Politics of Abortion in Britain

By Fran Amery

Published

Jan 22, 2020

Page count

234 pages

ISBN

978-1529205374

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Jan 22, 2020

Page count

234 pages

ISBN

978-1529204995

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Jan 22, 2020

Page count

234 pages

ISBN

978-1529205381

Dimensions

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Jan 22, 2020

Page count

234 pages

ISBN

978-1529205381

Dimensions

Imprint

Bristol University Press
Beyond Pro-life and Pro-choice

Examining the changing pluralities of contemporary abortion debate in Britain, this innovative and important book shows why it is necessary to move beyond an understanding of abortion politics as characterised in binary terms by ‘pro-choice’ versus ‘pro-life’.

Amery traces the evolution of political and parliamentary discourses from the passage of the Abortion Act in the 1960s to the present day, and argues that the current provision of abortion in Britain rests on assumptions about medical authority over women’s reproductive decision-making which are unsustainable.

She explores new arguments around sex-selective abortion, disability rights, pre-abortion counselling and the push for decriminalization, and radically reconceptualizes the debate to account for these new battlegrounds in abortion politics.

Fran Amery is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Bath.

1. Introduction

2. Regulating the female body

3. Passing the Abortion Act

4. Feminism enters the debate

5. Backlash and appropriation

6. Into the 21st century

7. Towards decriminalisation? New battlegrounds in abortion politics

8. Conclusion