Hard Choices, Lost Voices: How the Abortion Conflict Has Divided America, Distorted Constitutional Rights, and Damaged the Courts

In this thoughtful, stimulating inquiry, University of Arkansas law professor Judges endorses a woman's right to abortion while remaining critical of the excesses and absolutism he observes on both sides of the debate. He also blasts the Supreme Court for its current ambivalent approach, which, he argues, has aggravated the inequality and arbitrariness that characterizes abortion rights. Laying out the demographic and social contexts of abortion, he demonstrates that a woman's access to abortion depends less on the law than on her financial status, where she lives and whom she knows. Reviewing proposals for a Congressional Freedom of Choice Act that would curb the states' powers to restrict access to abortion, Judges finds FOCA to be a ``far from adequate solution'' to protecting women's rights. His balanced approach makes this book a valuable contribution to the national debate. (May)