ABSTRACT
As every good policy researcher knows, policy issues—along with the data that can be marshaled in their support—depend largely upon the definitions used. Few instances reveal the accuracy of this basic research postulate more dramatically than the official definition of the contemporary family. In most instances individuals enter into cohabitation with a view to marriage if they prove themselves loving and compatible. While an argument can be made that the abortion issue transcends the family in many ways, in current American debates on the family, abortion has become a central, if not the central family issue. The virulent and lasting clash over abortion has made it clear that this issue is more than a question of abstract morality and law. The most obvious feature of modern Western marriage is that it is not only a vow nor is it only a contract: It is a curious mixture of both.
