Reproductive health policy‐makers: Comparing the influences of international and domestic institutions on abortion policy

Abstract

Do policies protecting women's rights correspond with norm change at the state level or the level of international institutions? We examine this question, comparing domestic and international institutional activity in correlation with reproductive health policy change, specifically, abortion access policy. At the domestic level, we examine female legislators and policies set to encourage gender equality, namely, electoral gender quotas. In the international arena, our theory distinguishes regional from international inter‐governmental bodies. Original data with measurement innovations introduced here—including the Comparative Abortion Policy Index (CAPI1 and CAPI2)—are analysed for over 150 countries for close to two decades. We find a heretofore‐overlooked relationship between international entities and reproductive health. Gender quotas, however, do not correspond with the general association between female representation and pro‐women policy. When researchers and policy‐makers consider gender quotas to promote women's rights, they may be advised to encourage female political participation through more organic means.

Individual Empowerment, Institutional Confidence, and Vaccination Rates in Cross-National Perspective, 1995 to 2018

“…An abortion rights index (Forman-Rabinovici and Sommer 2018, by way of Teorell et al 2021) enumerates seven grounds for granting legal access to abortion: saving a woman’s life, preserving a woman’s physical health, preserving a woman’s mental health, in case of rape or incest, in case of fetal impairment, and for social or economic reasons, on request.…”

A global and historical exploration: Legislative reform in Muslim family laws in Muslim‐majority versus Muslim‐minority countries

“…Many scholars consider women's ability to seek and obtain legal abortions as the ultimate expression of their right to individual freedom and the right to choose (Halliday, 2016; Superson, 2014). Table 5 employs the comparative abortion index (Forman‐Rabinovici & Sommer, 2018), which quantifies the permissiveness of abortion policies worldwide to measure individual choice and autonomy. The table shows that the abortion index is positively associated with exit rights in Muslim‐minority countries.…”

The Politicization of Women’s Health and Wellbeing

“…It might not be possible to do so without controversy, and it might be a barrier to universal acceptance. That said, clear guidelines and an unambiguous stance have been found to be more effective in making change on the ground in the health policies countries decide to adopt [42].…”