"Containing the results of a cross-national research project on abortion politics in eleven democratic states (between the 1960s and 2000), this volume marks major progress in abortion research. It develops a comprehensive research design to examine whether or not women's policy agencies (institutional groups intended to improve the status of women) have functioned as necessary and effective allies of women's movements. It explores their efforts to gain access to power arenas and secure abortion laws that coincide with feminist goals. Indeed, these findings constitute a rigorous application of comparative methodology to assess explanations from social movement and democratic theory pertaining to variations in state feminism and movement success."--Jacket.