Roe v. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy in American History

by N.E.H. Hull, Peter Charles Hoffer

Few Supreme Court decisions have stirred up as much controversy, vitriolic debate, and even violence as Roe v. Wade in 1973. Four decades later, it remains a touchstone for the culture wars in the United States and a pivot upon which much of our politics turns. With that in mind, N. E. H. Hull and Peter Charles Hoffer have taken stock of the abortion debates, controversies, and cases that have emerged during the past decade in order to update their best-selling book on this landmark case.

As with the first two editions, this book details the case's historical background; highlights Roe v. Wade ’s core issues, essential personalities, and key precedents; tracks the case’s path through the courts; clarifies the jurisprudence behind the Court’s ruling in Roe ; assesses the impact of the presidential elections of George W. Bush and Barack Obama along with the confirmations of Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Sonia Sotomayor; and gauges the case’s impact on American society and subsequent challenges to it in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989), Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), and Gonzales v. Carhart (2007). This third updated edition also adds two completely new chapters covering abortion politics and legal battles in Obama’s second term and Donald J. Trump's first term.

The new material covers two important cases in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016) and June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo (2020). The cases dealt with state laws—Texas and Louisiana, respectively—designed to limit access to abortion by requiring doctors performing abortions to have admission privileges at a state-authorized hospital within thirty miles of the abortion clinic. In both cases the Court ruled the laws unconstitutional, thus handing abortion rights’ activists key victories in the face of an increasingly conservative Court. The new chapters also cover the confirmations of Justices Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh as well as the heated political environment surrounding the Court in the age of Trump.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Feminism, Politics, American History

432 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

Reviews

[Stephen Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the entire mess that is the legal treatment of abortion in the United States. I presume that no matter what your stance on the central topic, reading through this will likely leave you infuriated with someone. Hull and Hoffer do an excellent job at laying out both the legal background of abortion in the United States, the circumstances that lead to Roe, the causes of the weakness in the opinion as written, and the ensuing steady wearing away at the edges of that decision that have gone on since.

Most of the books in this series that I read have concerned cases in the 19th century, where one is more removed from the figures involved. Reading this volume, which runs up until 2010, will affect how you view most of the current US Supreme Court.

I can't say that I particularly recommend reading about Roe v. Wade - you're apt to wind up with a headache from sitting about with a clenched jaw - but if you're so inclined, this is an excellent place to start.

[Marisol Ybarra · Rating 3 out of 5]

very dense but informative historically

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only gave it two stars because although it was blatantly biased, it was informative to court procedure, history of abortion, and cases surrounding the Roe v. Wade decision.

[Kady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting history...Dense read, but still pretty good.

[Zihao Liu · Rating 2 out of 5]

although informative, still too biased

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Roe v. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy in American History (Paperback)
by N.E.H. Hull

[Joseph Bredesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thus far this book is very, very biased. The area of history that I have some prior knowledge in, is drastically distorted that being Christian history with regards to abortion. She acts as if Christians up to the point of Roe v. Wade were fine with abortion up to the point of quickening (4 or 5 months) but forgets to add in...Augustine, a pretty influential Christian (cough cough) that put ensoulment at 40 days. I am learning a lot as it is very historically dense, but its hard for me to buy into the text completely when she isn't faithful to the area that I have some prior knowledge In. I'm going to take it with a grain of salt.

Secondly, the reason I don't like Roe v. Wade is because it says that under the 4th amendment saying that someone has a right to privacy in their persons a women has a right to abortion. I agree, but I don't think that means that we can't prohibit abortion. We can regulate privacy, but we have to get a search warrant to see if they are violating the law. For example, if someone thinks there is underage dinking in a house the police can enforce the law, but they need to get a search warrant. The 4th amendment has houses as well as persons, so it's kind of the same.