The question of whether a young woman should be allowed to terminate a pregnancy without her parents' knowledge has been one of the most contentious issues surrounding abortion. Parental involvement laws reach to the core of the parent-teen relationship in the highly contested realm of adolescent sexuality. This is the first book to examine in thorough detail the decision-making experiences of teens considering abortion. Shoshanna Ehrlich evaluates the U.S. Supreme Court's efforts to reconcile the historically based understanding of teens as dependent persons in need of protection with a more contemporary understanding of them as autonomous individuals with adult-like claims to constitutional recognition. Integrating a wealth of social science literature, including in-depth interviews with 26 young women from Massachusetts who obtained court authorisation for an abortion, the book raises important questions about the logic of a legal approach that requires young women to involve adults when they seek to terminate a pregnancy, but that allows them to make a decision to become mothers on their own.

By:   Shoshanna Ehrlich
Imprint:   Praeger Publishers Inc
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 24mm,  Width: 235mm,  Spine: 155mm
Weight:   513g
ISBN:  

9780275983215

ISBN 10:   0275983218
Pages:   210
Publication Date:   April 2006
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  ELT Advanced ,  Primary
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock  
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SHOSHANNA EHRLICH is Associate Professor on the Legal Education Faculty of the University of Massachusetts-Boston's College of Public and Community Service. As Clinical Legal Education Director, she produced a guidebook for young women entitled The Teen Girls' Legal Rights Project (1998).

<p> Ehrlich explores the social and emotions as well as the legal dimensions of young women who are pregnant but not prepared to bear and raise a child. Her study pivots on the voices of 26 young women from Massachusetts who, under state law, elected to seek court authorization for an abortion rather than obtain consent from a parent. The series will deal with topics about reproduction that are currently contentious in the US, if not anywhere else in the world. -<p>Reference & Research Book News

Shoshanna Ehrlich's book is a must read for every policy maker to remind them that their actions have consequences in real people's lives. The teens' stories are enlightening, touching, sometimes heartrending. Together, they tell a larger story about our society's refusal to give young women's decisions the respect and support they deserve and how we can rectify that. -Gloria Feldt Author of The War on Choice and Behind Every Choice Is a Story and former president, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

<p> Ehrlich explores the social and emotions as well as the legal dimensions of young women who are pregnant but not prepared to bear and raise a child. Her study pivots on the voices of 26 young women from Massachusetts who, under state law, elected to seek court authorization for an abortion rather than obtain consent from a parent. The series will deal with topics about reproduction that are currently contentious in the US, if not anywhere else in the world. - <p>Reference & Research Book News