| Abstract: | National politics in the US, Poland, and Ireland have in recent years been afire with debate over abortion. Conflicting abortion laws almost scuttled the reunification of Germany. This paper describes how the abortion debate took hold in post-Communist Poland and how the issue came to be so entrenched in US politics in the wake of the US Supreme Court's 1973 decision on abortion in the case of Roe vs. Wade. It focuses upon abortion mainly as a method of birth control which women have always sought when needed regardless of the procedure's legal status. The controversies and campaigns recorded and the ideas offered focus upon women's access to affordable, safe, and legal abortion. The author argues that Poland is no place to be a woman and presents sections on the country's church, government, and medical profession; Roe vs. Wade; who opposes abortion rights and their broad success; the 1992 US presidential election; Bill Clinton's presidency; why the abortion debate has been different in Britain; and new issues on abortion. |
