Am. Gov. Final Exam Review - Week 18: Abortion

Week 18: Abortion

Goals:

1. Consider what they know and understand about the topic of abortion and the controversy surrounding it in the United States.

2. Examine the anti-abortion movement’s current “incremental” approach to legislation by reading and discussing “Abortion’s Opponents Claim the Middle Ground.”

3. Research key court decisions, federal regulations, and legislation regarding abortion, from 1973 to the present

Key Questions:

·         Why is abortion such a hotly contested issue in the US?

·         Should abortion be illegal?

Review Questions:

a.     What happened in 1992 regarding the topic of abortion in the United States?

b. How, and in what context, is this issue being revisited currently?

c. How has the anti-abortion movement changed over the last twelve years, according to the article?

d. In what ways has the movement sought “incremental” legislative changes?

e. What is the Republican Party’s official position on abortion?

f. What is President Bush’s position on abortion, and in what terms has he discussed the topic?

g. What are some examples of recent legislation that illustrate the incremental approach, and how do these laws work?

h. What is meant by the expression “personhood” of the fetus?

i. What role has the Supreme Court played in the abortion debate, and how has that role changed over the years, according to the article?

j. What prompted the anti-abortion movement to change its approach to legislation?

k. Who is Dr. James C. Dobson, and what is his position in the abortion debate?

l. What do abortion rights supporters think about the new incremental approach on the part of the anti-abortion movement?

m. Who is Gloria Feldt, and what is her position in the abortion debate?

n. How do “moderates” challenge the position of abortion rights advocates?

o. What does Republican pollster, Bill McInturff, state about people’s positions on each side of the abortion debate?

p. About what does Gloria Feldt present the analogy of “losing one finger at a time”? What does she mean by this?

q. According to the article, what might prompt the abortion debate to “become raw and fundamental again, very quickly”?