Regulating Abortion: Dissensus and the Politics of Rights

Abstract

This special issue brings together comparative perspectives on the regulation of abortion. It examines the sociopolitical contexts within which proposals to expand access to abortion for women are won and lost. Women’s claim to a right to safe and legal abortion services is relatively new in the language of human rights; yet, it is one that continues to ‘trickle up’ and to ‘download’ across diverse jurisdictions (Sanger and Rebouche, 2016). As the essays in this volume acknowledge, however, the universalized power of law, and the turn to law to secure a vindication of rights, brings with it certain risks. These risks of ignoring context and the messy processes of implementation are highlighted in the essays collected together in this volume.

Keywords: Abortion, Human Rights, Reproductive Rights, CEDAW, Ireland, Gender