Abstract

A recent decision of the US Supreme Court cancelled the constitutional women’s right to abortion which had been established in 1973. In this light the article asks for conditions and developments at the basis of this sharp turn in abortion regulations in the US. Focusing on political culture and applying a transnational comparison with the European case study of Austria, the analysis draws a trajectory from the liberalization of abortion laws in the early 1970s to their recent revocation in the US and an inclusive social agreement on liberal laws in Austria. On the basis of public debates and political developments during the last five centuries the paper concludes by identifying crucial features, which may help to explain the very different outcome of a debate from a very similar point of departure: the structure of public debate, the role of religious groups within the political process, the influence of small political interest groups, and the weight of courts v. that of legislative bodies.