Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2021
Abortion is the most divisive issue in American society today, but that is not unique because the issue troubles many other Western countries as well. Acrimonious debate has ensued in America in the wake of the Supreme Court's latest pronouncement in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services. Anxiety about the future of the law in America has been widely expressed by pro-life and prochoice groups alike. These could well be the visible skirmishes of the abortion battle and the conflict over the existence of a woman's right to choose in almost any Western jurisdiction. Perhaps only the intensity of debate and venue of battle vary.
In the wake of Roe v. Wade the American battle fronts have mainly been in the courts. A plethora of cases in both state and federal courts has tested the constitutionality of legislation passed by State legislatures restricting the availability of abortion.