Abortion Politics in Congress
Strategic Incrementalism and Policy Change

This book examines how legislators have juggled their passions over abortion with standard congressional procedures.

Scott H. Ainsworth (Author), Thad E. Hall (Author)

9780521515818, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 December 2010

240 pages, 13 b/w illus. 21 tables
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.45 kg

'The authors' analysis is nuanced and yields robust and substantively significant findings.' Political Studies

This book examines how legislators have juggled their passions over abortion with standard congressional procedures, looking at how both external factors (such as public opinion) and internal factors (such as the ideological composition of committees and party systems) shape the development of abortion policy. Driven by both theoretical and empirical concerns, Scott H. Ainsworth and Thad E. Hall present a simple, formal model of strategic incrementalism, illustrating that legislators often have incentives to alter policy incrementally. They then examine the sponsorship of abortion-related proposals as well as their committee referral and find that a wide range of Democratic and Republican legislators repeatedly offer abortion-related proposals designed to alter abortion policy incrementally. Abortion Politics in Congress reveals that abortion debates have permeated a wide range of issues and that a wide range of legislators and a large number of committees address abortion.

Part I. Strategic Incrementalism and the Political Backdrop for Abortion Politics in Congress: 1. Some of the politics surrounding abortion policy
2. The strategic foundations for incrementalism in legislatures
3. The nature of Congress and incrementalism in abortion politics: views from the inside and views from the outside
4. A short legislative history of abortion
Part II. Abortion in the House: 5. Sponsors of abortion policies
6. Playing the field: committee referrals of abortion-related proposals
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Law [L], Politics & government [JP], Ethical issues: abortion & birth control [JFMA]