Abstract:
Abstract The feminist movement in the United States like other countries has tried to establish equality for women. From the first attempts to gain constitutional right for vote, up to the current radical demands, feminists have struggled to make changes in the U.S. party politics and obtain their rights within the parties. One of the important issues in which women played a key role in party politics is the issue of abortion. In this article, U.S. party politics on abortion, the role of the feminist movement in the process of legalization and the controversies regarding it are studied. Through two major social movements known as “pro-choice” and “pro-life”, feminists mainly follow their goals and attitudes on abortion. In political realm, Democrats, due to their liberal approaches, are commonly known to be pro-choice, while Republicans are known as pro-life supporters. Being pro-choice or pro-life for these two political parties has created debates and controversies which are examined in this article. U.S. feminists from the beginning have tried their best to elect women to send to the Congress and political parties; since they believe that if they want to get things done in U.S., they have to enter the parties and work for change inside them. Therefore, as indicated in this paper, U.S. party politics have been remarkably influenced by the feminist movements about abortion. This paper, arguing abortion from the lens of the two major US party institutions, focuses on the political and social domains and feminist movements’ arguments.
Machine summary:
"Feminists did not make a new path in the internal politics of Democrats but followed the trail of some civil right organizations International Journal of Women’s Research and anti-war protesters who had been active inside the Democratic Party.
The first measure the feminists took was the foundation of the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) in 1971, which brought together Republican and Democrat women with feminists who were involved in gaining equal rights for women in politics and supporting women candidates across party lines (Young, 2000).
The Women’s movement in the 1980s tried to focus on the legislative branch mostly to elect pro-choice women to the Congress, because when Reagan became president in 1980, he promised the anti-feminist Republicans to use all the means available to restrict women’s access to abortion.
International Journal of Women’s Research Contradictory Arguments on Abortion The supporters of abortion in the United States (called mainly pro-choicer) argue as follows: Fetus is no human: It is uncertain when human life begins.
Although today, Democrats are known as pro-choice supporters and Republicans as pro-lifers, as mentioned in details in the article, it is surprising to know that these two party’s positions on abortion have been different in the course of time.
Other than party politics, feminist movements, through two major social groupings known as pro-choice and pro-life, began their activities.
Al- though pro-choice and pro-life movements and political parties have different policies on abortion, it should not be forgotten that it is not absolutely about two frontiers of rights and wrongs."