Abortion and Divorce in Western Law

by Mary Ann Glendon

Book Overview

What can abortion and divorce laws in other countries teach Americans about these thorny issues? In this incisive new book, noted legal scholar Mary Ann Glendon looks at the experiences of twenty Western nations, including the United States, and shows how they differ, subtly but profoundly, from one another. Her findings challenge many widely held American beliefs. She reveals, for example, that a compromise on the abortion question is not only...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674001613
• ISBN13: 9780674001619
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Must read for those entering the conversation on these controversial and complex issues

Mary Ann Glendon tackles a very difficult task with great care and precision - she attempts to engage in a conversation about two very emotional and complex subjects which usually find people either at polar extremes from one another or completely ambivalent and ignorant of the real discussion at hand - these two issues are abortion and divorce. To embark on this conversation, Glendon suggests that we consider not how America has addressed these issues, but rather how the rest of the Western world has done so through their laws and regulations - and she does so with great precision. Would you be surprised to discover that the United States has the most liberal laws regarding both the regulation of abortion and the application of divorce in the entire western world?! I was. But Glendon doesn't just stop with the comparison, she seeks to examine how and why this situation exists and it is through her careful examination that one can learn how to better address and speak to these complex and controversial subjects here in America. The book is not an easy read, but I believe it is an important read for everyone wanting to not merely understand the current situation of abortion and divorce on demand, but also wish to change the present landscape on these issues. Glendon realizes that changing any one law isn't going to change the perception or attitude of an entire country, but she does realize that something must be done and she seeks to better prepare and equip those entering into the fray with solid background information that can be used to advance much needed change in these areas.

An Outstanding and Vital Contribution to the Subject

Professor Glendon of the Harvard Law School is a rare voice of sanity, compassion and honesty in America's abortion debates. She is an especially rare voice within the legal academy. Glendon shows that America's abortion regime, set into place by the Supreme Court in its infamous Roe v. Wade ruling, is the most radical in the Western world. In the United States, the richest nation in the world, we have the least amount of legal protection for unborn children; to use Orwell's phrase, they are "unpersons" as far as our laws are concerned.But Dr. Glendon's book is about much more than looking at comparative abortion laws. Glendon demonstrates that abortion laws are necessarily related to the provisions a society makes for vulnerable women and families facing difficult pregnancies. Glendon adopts a wholistic, communitarian-based approach to the issue of abortion, arguing that it is more a question of societal responsibilities than individual rights. Thus, the current rhetoric, especially popular on the "pro-choice" side, that posits a conflict of rights between mother and child, is very misguided ... and as we have witnessed, deadly to unborn children and damaging to the fabric of our society.I believe Dr. Glendon's book represents a prophetic call to a new way of thinking about abortion, and our response to this tremendous national tragedy.

Fair-Minded and Comprehensive

Mary Ann Glendon is among the most talented members of the faculty of the Harvard Law School, and this book is a detailed comparison of abortion and divorce laws in the major developed nations. Such a comparison leads to the conclusion that American law on these matters is the most extreme in the developed world. Glendon then argues that the peculiar extremity of our legal situation reflects the deficiencies of a constitutional order that places unprecedented importance on rights, a contention which is further developed in her book, Rights Talk. This book is very valuable in dispelling the notion that where we Americans stand with regard to abortion and divorce is simply consistent with the law of other Western nations.