Comparative analysis of abortion in Ireland, Poland, and the United States

The religious and state abortion policies which are different in Poland, Ireland and the US encourage male dominance over women's sexuality and reproductive capacities, thereby relegating women to second class citizenship. In Ireland and Poland, the church plays a dominant role in state policies, including abortion, and in the US, though the church is separated from the state and abortion is legal, the courts have yielded to the pressures of religious groups who oppose abortion, showing that in all three countries, women have little freedom to control their sexual and reproductive functions. Feminists have not argued for abortion in terms of human rights, but prefer women to be voluntary rather than involuntary mothers. It would be effective if feminists campaigned for women's reproductive freedom in the name of human rights.