Welfare Policies and Women Rights: Case Study of Abortion Act in a Comparative Study of the UK and France

Abstract: Donald Trump's time in the White House has done decades of damage to women's rights, especially their right to self-determination. President Trump's appointment of two new Supreme Court justices has allowed the central decision making system on abortion rights to be repealed by making it federal, which has allowed dozens of states to repeal and ban it. This event demonstrated to the world that once again in times of crisis women are the first victims of the state. However, it also demonstrates that the state can protect its women, and force the acceptance of a population hostile to certain rights such as abortion. The controversial issue of abortion, when it was voted on in France and the UK, provoked a strong reaction in public opinion and politicians alike. This thesis aims to demonstrate how the state through its welfare politics, in this case abortion, manages to influence popular mores and norms to achieve the assimilation and acceptance of this inherent right of women to decide and dispose of themselves.