This useful guide collates original documents from the nineteenth century onwards pertaining to the abortion debate in the USA and in this way seeks to produce a complete picture of abortion issues, examining the developments within this issue and placing current arguments in a historical context. To begin with there is a short preface from the author which talks about the purpose of the book, offering a "wide array of voices on the subject of abortion policy", from doctors to lawyers, judges, extreme antiabortionists, health care workers, patients and policy-makers. There is also a chronology from 1588 to the present day. The guide itself is organized into seven chapters, each concentrating on a particular era, beginning with attitudes to abortion in nineteenth century America, and ending with the current policies of the Bush administration. The structure of each chapter is excerpts of primary materials, such as a book of nineteenth century etiquette, memoirs of nurses, the Roe v. Wade ruling and so on. After each excerpt, the document is analysed in itself with explanation of the source in the context of the abortion debate. The chapters also contain grey-boxed historical notes entitled "In history" which are bite-sized pieces of information appropriate to the primary source under discussion. For example, a statement regarding abortion from Pope Paul VI is preceded by a small story about a group of ministers and rabbis in 1967 who announced their intention to help women seeking an abortion.
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