ABSTRACT
ABORTION LAWS: COM PARATIVE AND FEM INIST PERSPECTIVES IN AUSTRALIA, ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES1
Control over sexuality and reproduction is an important measure of woman’ s social status. In most western societies, institutional authorities such as churches, parliaments, courts and medical pro fessions have been instrumental in inventing and trying to enforce rules prohibiting access to abortion. By attempting to control the sexual and reproductive lives of women through criminal abortion laws, male dominated institutional authorities play a decisive role in denying women the right to exercise procreative choice. Since the middle of the twentieth century these criminal laws have been modified; however, full reproductive freedom for women remains an elusive goal.
