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Sally Sheldon, "Who is the Mother to make the Judgment?": Constructions of Woman in English Abortion Law", Feminist Legal Studies I/1 (1993), 3-22: In this paper the author analyses parliamentary debates to uncover the assumptions which are made regarding the kind of woman who would wish to terminate a pregnancy. She isolates three constructions of this woman: woman as minor, woman as victim and woman as mother. She then provides a close rereading of the text of the Abortion Act, 1967, in order to reveal how that statute is fundamentally predicated upon these constructions and underpinned by notions of female irresponsibility and assumptions regarding female sexuality and maternity as the 'normal' role for women. Address: Law Department, University of Keele, N. Staffs, ST5 5BG; E-mail: Laa00@cc.keele.ac.uk.

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