Marianne Githens is a professor at Goucher College. Her previous publications include A Portrait of Marginality and Different Roles, Different Voices: Women and Politicsin the United States and Europe. Dorothy McBride Stetson teaches at Florida Atlantic University. Her previous publications include Women's Rights in the USA: PolicyDebates and Gender Role.

"This volume serves as a useful reminder that the abortion controvery is not unique to the United States and, more specifically, that other countries have managed the abortion issue more successfully than has been the case in the U.S.. . .The entire Githens and Stetson collection suggests that real people seek to control their fertility in contexts created by real governments." -- Ted G. Jelen, Univ. of Nevada-Las Vegas for Women & Politics, Vol. 21, No. 4

• Part I Rhetoric and Reform; Chapter 1 Rhetoric and Symbols in American Abortion Politics, Laura R. Woliver; Chapter 2 Constitutionalizing Abortion, Kim Lane Scheppele; Chapter 3 Reproductive Rights and the Struggle with Change in Eastern Europe, Marianne Githens; Part II The Reality Factor; Chapter 4 Abortion Policy in the United States and Canada: Do Institutions Matter?, Donley T. Studlar, Raymond Tatalovich; Chapter 5 Abortion Policy Triads and Women’s Rights in Russia, the United States, and France, Dorothy Mcbride Stetson; Chapter 6 Abortion and Reproductive Choice: Policy and Politics in Japan, Joyce Gelb; Part III Rhetoric, Reality, and Rights; Chapter 7 The Stability of Compromise: Abortion Politics in Western Europe, Joyce Outshoorn; Chapter 8 Ireland and the European Union: The Impact of Integration and Social Change on Abortion Policy, Brian Girvin; Part IV Beyond Abortion; Chapter 9 Confronting the Consequences of Medical Technology: Policy Frontiers in the United States and France, Jennifer Merchant; Chapter 10 Feminist Perspectives on Abortion and Reproductive Technologies, Dorothy McBride Stetson;