The Conflicting Values On Abortion And Its Influence On U.S.Foreign Policy

In the late 1980 s and early 1990 s,due to the differences in values,the conservatives and the progressives were engaged in an increasingly bitter war of words with each other,which is called “culture wars” by the public later.The culture wars are centered on a series of social issues haunting the whole society,such as issues of homosexuality,global warming,censorship,and separation of church and state,among which issues of abortion are most contentious and controversial.American people are split into two polarized factions around the question whether abortion should be legalized.People who oppose the legalization of abortion and advocate the right to life of the fetuses are labeled pro-life activists.Those in support of the legalization of abortion are called pro-choice activists because they believe a woman has the right to decide whether or not to determinate her pregnancy.After the Supreme Court ruled on Roe v.Wade,the tension between those two factions intensified and became irreconcilable.Both the pro-life faction and pro-choice faction offered olive branches to the Democratic Party and the Republic Party,hoping to defend their own values on abortion through financing presidential candidates and their committees.Thus,abortion has become an important issue in the American political stage,especially in electoral politics.Based on the existing literature,public opinion polls about abortion issues,and Presidents' public speeches on abortion,the thesis explores the impact of conflicting values on abortion on American policy making body.By analyzing the different measures taken by different Administrations toward Mexico City Policy,this thesis comes to the conclusion that by direct and indirect means,the conflicting values on abortion has play a role in shaping the foreign policy.Apart from the introduction and the conclusion,this paper is divided into three chapters.Chapter One studies American domestic abortion controversy by focusing on the historical background of debate on abortion and different views held by pro-life andpro-choice factions.Chapter Two analyses the way conflicting values on abortion influence U.S.Policy making body.Chapter Three focuses on the different measures taken by different Administrations from Ronald Reagan to George W.Bush toward Mexico City Policy,a foreign aid policy,to illustrate that the debate over the legitimacy of abortion in the United States over the past few decades has affected the formulation of U.S.foreign policy.