Law, patriarchy & the enduring rationale for repealing criminal abortion laws in Great Britain and the United States of America

Pietroforte, Nancy (2023). Law, patriarchy & the enduring rationale for repealing criminal abortion laws in Great Britain and the United States of America. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Utilizing qualitative data culled from interviews with surviving British and American reproductive rights pioneers of the 1960s and 1970s combined with comparative socio-legal/historical analysis of abortion laws and campaigns to amend them, this thesis argues that the criminalization of abortion in the nineteenth century, as well as resistance to subsequent liberalization campaigns during the twentieth century, was largely the consequence of the pervasive influence of patriarchy on social institutions, laws and norms. Extensive analysis of qualitative, archival, doctrinal, primary and secondary sources supports central claim that criminal abortion laws are a danger to public health, reflect antiquated and gendered stereotypes and that abortion should be regulated by customary health care law - not restrictive criminal regulations.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):