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The S upreme C ourt and the Social Conception of Abortion
Author(s) -
Vecera Vincent
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
law and society review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1540-5893
pISSN - 0023-9216
DOI - 10.1111/lasr.12071
Subject(s) - supreme court , abortion , law , skepticism , constitutionalism , politics , political science , reading (process) , power (physics) , journalism , sociology , democracy , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , biology , pregnancy , genetics , epistemology
Skeptics of S upreme C ourt power have pointed to abortion policy as an example of surprising limits on the justices' power to change society. I argue, however, that the C ourt's ruling in R oe v. W ade played a critical role in transforming how A mericans think and talk about abortion. I develop an account of the development of the social conception of abortion from a critical reading of twentieth century American journalism and then test some predictions of that account through the use of quantitative content analyses. I conclude by discussing some implications for the study of judicial politics and public constitutionalism.