ABORTION POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES

The intensity of opposition to legal abortion in the US is described, & reasons behind the movement to repeal abortion reforms are analyzed & compared to reform movements in GB. The radical climate of the late 1960s & early 1970s favored liberalization of abortion statutes in the US, as did the attitudes of US MDs & influential Catholics. The progress of abortion reforms in GB was more moderate, a situation caused by the limited power of interpretation of English courts, the greater restrictions on clinical practice in GB, & the greater tendency toward traditionalism among British MDs. However, the increasing strength of conservative politics in the US in the late 1970s was reflected in the increased strength & organization of antiabortion sentiments, & in the movement to press for a Constitutional amendment supported by "right to life" & other antiabortion groups. D. Dunseath.