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THE ABORTION RIGHTS CONTROVERSY IN AMERICA: A LEGAL READER, Edited by N.E.H. Hull, William James Hoffer, and Peter Charles Hoffer. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2004. 352 pp. $59.95 cloth; $24.95 paper.
The Abortion Rights Controversy in America: A Legal Reader is an unbiased, concise anthology of the abortion debate, spanning from the 1840s to 2004. One of the triumphs of this book is its universal accessibility. As legal readers go, this is a light, easy read for anyone with or without a legal background or outside knowledge of the issues. The editors adequately explain legal terminology and processes that might otherwise be confusing to the general reader. To the end of creating a balanced "documentary history of ideas, events, and opinions" (p. 7), the editors include almost equal amounts of legal and non-legal materials. By incorporating passages from autobiographical accounts, speeches, transcripts, amicus briefs, and newspaper and magazine articles, the editors place the statutory and case law within the broader social and political context of American history. What contextual background is not directly conveyed through chosen selections is offered in chapter introductions and conclusions, as well as in helpful editorial transitions that bridge one selection to the next and pose guiding questions.
While The Abortion Rights Controversy might best serve as a key text in an undergraduate women's studies, contemporary history, or pre-law course; it would, at most, serve as a quick reference to law students in a reproductive rights law course because of its heavy reliance on non-legal sources, its constricted focus on the narrow topic of abortion, and its significantly abbreviated, heavily-edited case text. Law students and scholars stand to gain a well-rounded historical understanding of the political and social climate surrounding abortion legislation and case law, but would likely be frustrated by the missing citations, incomplete opinions, and absent dissents. For law students taking reproductive rights law courses, which are slowly emerging on campuses throughout the country. The Abortion Rights Controversy falls far short of a worthy proxy for a long-awaited, veritable casebook.
Readers falling anywhere on the "women's rights versus fetal rights" spectrum could take issue with the editors choosing to publish yet another book featuring the often overemphasized abortion issue, thereby perpetuating the...