Pro-Choice Movement

The pro-choice movement has sought to keep abortion safe, legal, and accessible to women. Advocates of Abortion rights began using the term "pro-choice" in the years after the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which found that the Constitution of the United States protects abortion rights. They adopted the term to emphasize that their cause is women's choice, not abortion per se, and to counter the antiabortion, or "pro-life," movement's description of them as "pro-abortion." People in the pro-choice movement believe that women should have control over their reproductive lives as a legal fact and fundamental right, and that abortion should be available to all women.

Bibliography

Colker, Ruth. Abortion and Dialogue: Pro-choice, Pro-life, and American Law. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.

Craig, Barbara Hinkson, and David M. O'Brien. Abortion and American Politics. Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House, 1993.

Ginsburg, Faye D. Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.

Gorney, Cynthia. Articles of Faith: A Frontline History of the Abortion Wars. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998.