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  • Key Constitutional Issues of the Abortion Debate
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  • Where Is the Right to Privacy?
  • Where Do Your Representatives Stand?
  • Case Law on Abortion: The Last 40 Years
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Additional Resources

A Note about Internet Resources
Students need to be aware that Web sites sometimes present only one view of an issue. Encourage them to think about Web sites even as they are reading. Guiding questions as they review Web sites are: What to did you learn from this site? What didn't you learn from this site? Who sponsors this site? What bias might the sponsor have? How current is the site?

Web Sites

The Last Abortion Clinic
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/clinic
The companion Web site to the FRONTLINE documentary provides extended interviews with direct participants in the story, analysis of significant issues, frequently asked questions, readings and links.

Legal Information Institute
http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/topics/tog_abortion.html
Although this site is maintained by Cornell University's law school, it is accessible to high school learners. Organized alphabetically by topic, researchers can access relevant case law.

FRONTLINE: Abortion Clinic
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/twenty/watch/abortion.html
Originally aired in 1983, this provocative program documents an abortion clinic in Chester, Penn. Visitors to this site are able to watch the documentary in segments, including the experiences of two women as they prepare for and undergo abortions.

Abortion History -- United States -- Abortion Controversy
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/abortionus/
This site provides a broad range of links to information about the history of abortion in the U.S. There is a strong focus on how this issue has come to be such a controversial subject in American society.

Constitutional Rights Foundation
http://www.crf-usa.org/bria/bria14_2.html
Teachers can find lessons that deal with the independence of the judiciary branch. Topics include: "An Issue of Consent," "Voters and Judges" and "An Independent Judiciary."

Oyez
http://www.oyez.com
Created by Northwestern University, Oyez provides information about the history of the Supreme Court, biographies of all Supreme Court Justices and brief descriptions of case law. The site, easy for high school students to use, provides an alphabetical listing of cases sorted by subject. Students can read the basic facts involved in a case, critical question that each case poses, the decision, who voted for it, and a brief summary of the majority opinion. For some cases, it also has audio of the oral arguments.

Books

The Abortion Rights Controversy in America: A Legal Reader
Edited by N.E.H. Hull, William James Hoffer and Peter Charles Hoffer
Published in 2004, this is a compendium of primary sources related to the abortion controversy. The editors, who are also law professors, have collected relevant briefs, news articles, statutes and first person accounts with a strong focus on the development of abortion law in the 1990s.

Opposing Viewpoints Series ­ Abortion
Edited by James D. Torr
The "Opposing Viewpoints Series" is an excellent resource for high school students who are researching controversial topics. Viewpoints in the "abortion" book include "Is Abortion Immoral?" "How Does Abortion Affect Women?" and "Should Abortion Rights Be Restricted?"

Articles

Abortion: Just the Data -- With High-Court Debate Brewing, New Report Shows Procedure's Numbers Down
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/18/AR2005071801164.html
This Washington Post article by Naseem Sowti offers a demographic snapshot about how many abortions are being performed in the U.S. and who is obtaining them.

A New Federal Move to Limit Teen Abortion
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0427/p01s02-uspo.html
In this Christian Science Monitor article Linda Feldmann reports on Congress' latest abortion related legislation. The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, or CIANA, makes it a crime to transport a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion.

Abortion Wars
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4733090
In this Newsweek Web article, Sarah Childress chronicles the efforts of pro-life organizations as they mobilize in their fight against legal abortion.