The Culture Wars Meet State Politics: Gender, Representation and Abortion Policy provides an interesting analysis of the fact that the number of women in a state legislature increases the likelihood that a state will have more liberal abortion policies. The authors find a difference in the manner in which women candidates are recruited in the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as the type of districts in which they are successful. Democratic women legislators tended to be associated with women’s groups more frequently than Republican women legislators, and while Democratic women are electable in all types of Democratic leaning districts, Republican women tend to be elected in the more liberal Republican districts.
Teresa Collett
Teresa Stanton Collett is a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she teaches bioethics, property law, and constitutional law. A nationally prominent speaker and scholar, she is active in attempts to rebuild the Culture of Life and protect the institutions of marriage and family. She often represents groups of state legislators, the Catholic Medical Association, and the Christian Medical and Dental Association in appellate case related to medical-legal matters. She represented the governors of Minnesota and North Dakota before the U.S. Supreme Court as amici curiae regarding the effectiveness of those states’ parental involvement laws. She has served as special attorney general for Oklahoma and Kansas related to legislation designed to protect the well-being of minors and unborn children. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and has testified before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittees on the Constitution, as well as numerous legislative committees in the states.
