Document Type
Book Review
Publication Date
2008
Publication Information
123 Pol. Sci. Q. 343 (2008) (book review).
Abstract
Girls on the Stand: How Courts Fail Pregnant Minors by Helena Silverstein. New York, New York University Press, 2007. 256 pp. $32.00.
Abortion may be the most controversial issue in American politics. It is a domain in which disagreement is not merely overheated, but seemingly intractable. Girls on the Stand: How Courts Fail Pregnant Minors ambitiously takes aim at one of the few abortion policies about which there is widespread agreement: parental involvement laws. It appeals to social science evidence to argue that popular support for these laws is misguided because, in practice, they impose too high a burden on minors due to the ineffective administration of judicial bypass procedures. Empirical evidence is always a welcome counterpoint to the emotionally charged rhetoric that often typifies the abortion debate. But despite its clarity of organization and fair tone, Girls on the Stand fails to shed light on the most important questions, and relies on research findings that seem disconnected from the human context that the book seeks to analyze.
Recommended Citation
O. C. Snead,
Girls on the Stand: How Courts Fail Pregnant Minors,
123 Pol. Sci. Q. 343 (2008) (book review)..
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1682