"Abortion is defended today as a means of ensuring the equality and independence of women, and as a solution to the problems of single parenting, child abuse, and the feminization of poverty"
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Robert Casey distills the dominant late 20th-century defense of abortion into a set of social and moral claims: personal equality and independence for women, and relief from entrenched problems like single parenting, child abuse, and the feminization of poverty. The line captures how reproductive autonomy became linked to broader visions of justice in the wake of second-wave feminism, where control over childbearing was argued to be a precondition for equal participation in education, work, and civic life. It also gestures toward consequentialist arguments that legal access can mitigate harms associated with unintended pregnancy and resource scarcity.
Casey, a Democratic governor of Pennsylvania and an outspoken opponent of abortion, positioned himself at the center of this debate. His administration defended restrictions that culminated in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the Supreme Court decision that retained abortion’s constitutional protection while establishing the undue burden standard. He was also famously denied a speaking slot at the 1992 Democratic National Convention, a flashpoint revealing the party’s internal rift over abortion. From that vantage, his sentence reads as a critique of how policy makers and advocates justify abortion: a claim that society is using it as a substitute for deeper commitments to economic security, health care, childcare, and support for parents.
The phrase feminization of poverty, widely used in sociology since the 1970s, highlights how women disproportionately bear the costs of low wages, caregiving, and single parenthood. Pro-choice advocates have argued that abortion access responds to these structural realities by expanding agency and reducing adverse outcomes. Casey’s framing turns the spotlight back on the structures themselves, implying that the moral and political task is to remedy the conditions that make abortion appear necessary. The tension he names persists: whether equality is secured primarily through control over reproduction, or through robust social supports that address the underlying pressures shaping reproductive decisions.
Casey, a Democratic governor of Pennsylvania and an outspoken opponent of abortion, positioned himself at the center of this debate. His administration defended restrictions that culminated in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the Supreme Court decision that retained abortion’s constitutional protection while establishing the undue burden standard. He was also famously denied a speaking slot at the 1992 Democratic National Convention, a flashpoint revealing the party’s internal rift over abortion. From that vantage, his sentence reads as a critique of how policy makers and advocates justify abortion: a claim that society is using it as a substitute for deeper commitments to economic security, health care, childcare, and support for parents.
The phrase feminization of poverty, widely used in sociology since the 1970s, highlights how women disproportionately bear the costs of low wages, caregiving, and single parenthood. Pro-choice advocates have argued that abortion access responds to these structural realities by expanding agency and reducing adverse outcomes. Casey’s framing turns the spotlight back on the structures themselves, implying that the moral and political task is to remedy the conditions that make abortion appear necessary. The tension he names persists: whether equality is secured primarily through control over reproduction, or through robust social supports that address the underlying pressures shaping reproductive decisions.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
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