ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the evolution of the public debate about reproduction and the impact that the debate has had on the two central questions of reproductive policy: access to contraceptives and access to abortion. It follows the issues before and after legalization and traces trajectory of the pro-life/pro-choice battle over reproductive rights to the present. There is one refuge for legislators caught up in periodic religious and culture wars over reproduction policy: medicine and health. Medical issues can be turned over to doctors to resolve. Most legislative business involves distribution of funds and opportunities to a variety of competing interests. Rules and regulations about such intimate matters as conception and termination of pregnancy are remote from circumstances surrounding the personal behavior of millions of women and men. Reproduction is bound up with psychological, social and economic conditions as well as cultural and religious attitudes and practices. The chapter reviews the status of public assistance to poor women for reproductive services.
