Abortion as a Policy Issue:

Most literature dealing with the attitudes of the mass public toward abortion addresses the question in terms of the individual woman seeking termination. This study attempts to explain attitudes when abortion is framed as a public policy question. Three dependent variables are investigated. These are the issues of public funding, when human life begins, and the Human Life Amendment. This study suggests that while religion and religiosity are still sources of division on abortion, significant political divisions also are present contributing to the difficulty the government has in resolving abortion policy issues.     

Croatian Regional Policy Fostering Competitiveness

An obstacle for the implementation of a modern regional policy in Croatia is the inherited concept of the reconstruction of war-affected areas. This concept is no longer appropriate for the needs of a modern regional policy, which should be formulated, among others, also in the context of the EU accession. This is particularly important considering that the EU emphasizes that member states should be in the position to withstand competitive pressures in the single market as a key condition for accession. And regional policy has a particular role in this regard. In this article the main obstacles for a modern regional policy in Croatia are discussed, particularly from the point of view of achieving economic competitiveness. It is necessary to tackle these problems and obstacles through a number of measures and initiatives from both the central and the regional level, which are discussed in this paper.     

Family Cap and Nonmarital Fertility: The Racial Conditioning of Policy Effects

Using an experimental design, this research examines the effect of the nation's first family cap on the births, abortions, and contraception use of over 8,000 women receiving public assistance in New Jersey. The family cap denies additional cash benefits to children conceived while the mother is receiving public assistance. Our research shows that a targeted welfare benefit manipulation does influence fertility behavior; however, the effect is conditioned by race. We find that Black women in the experimental group have a 21% lower birth rate and a 32% higher abortion rate than Black women in the control group. We do not find a birth effect for Hispanic or White women. We discuss the policy implications of the effects of a segmented family cap.     

The Policy Transfer Model

ABSTRACT

“New” social welfare policies are often actually policies borrowed from other states or nations. This paper reviews the recent theoretical developments in understanding the processes of policy transfer and presents a “policy transfer” model that can be a useful heuristic tool for social workers engaged in policy making. It discusses how the field of social work can benefit from understanding the factors underlying successful and unsuccessful policy transfer, and argues for the inclusion of the study of policy transfer in social welfare policy courses.     

A Feminist Policy Analysis Framework

ABSTRACT

Most policy analysis models, both inside and outside of social work, approach policy in a gender-neutral manner. This fact belies the many ways our society is organized around gender, which is often regulated through policy. This article outlines a model for looking at policies through a gendered lens by framing a set of questions to be asked in a feminist policy analysis. The complexities and underlying issues inherent in such a model are discussed, as well as the model's implicit goals and values. The model provides an important framework for policy analysts and teaching students about policy.     

Places for Place‐Based Policy

Place‐based policy is both ubiquitous and widely criticised. The conventional economic case against place‐targeted interventions is strong, relegating its application to a narrow range of cases of immobile labour resources, market imperfections and/or other externalities. However, both internationally and domestically, equity considerations lead to policies and programmes for disadvantaged regions and their populations. Budget constraints and accountability suggest a selection or ‘triage’ process targeting places with the highest returns in contributing to social welfare. Furthermore, the challenges facing rural areas may be fundamentally different in developed from developing countries. This article proposes a framework for assessing places appropriate for place‐based policies, using the examples of Canada, Chile and Peru.     

Policymakers' Use of Social Science Research: Looking Within and Across Policy Actors

Evidence‐informed policy creates the conditions for families to perform the functions they provide for their members and society. To increase research utilization in policymaking, we must better understand policymakers and the professional and institutional cultures in which they operate. This exploratory cluster analysis examined within‐group differences in valuing, seeking, and use of social science research among 68 legislative staffers and 56 high‐ranking officials from 8 family‐serving executive agencies in Wisconsin. The findings are compared with a parallel study of 109 legislators from New York and Wisconsin. Among all 3 policy actors, a substantial proportion highly value research, actively seek it, and frequently use it in policy decisions; these Enthusiastic High Users of research are more attuned to political considerations compared to other clusters. Enthusiastic High Users in the legislative institution place a higher priority on innovative and action‐oriented research, whereas those in the agency institution prioritize the quality of research.     

An Exploratory Examination of Students' Family Policy Beliefs

Abstract

Family policy is coming to be recognized as an important component of programs focusing on family issues. As political leaders continue to engage in debates about family issues and family service professionals report spending more time on policy issues within their professional practice, attention to policy issues has become more important in the education of students in family courses. Because of the increasing presence of public policy study within the family studies curricula, it is important to consider students' policy perceptions and experiences as they enter family policy classes. Argued here is that students are more likely to become engaged with family policy topics that are timely and meaningful to them. This research examines student perceptions of various policy topics and issues in an attempt to better design courses with family policy content.     

Policy impact on Tibetan market participation

Since the Chinese government began implementing economic reforms in the late 1970s, China has undergone profound economic change and growth. Since then, associated policies have provided many business opportunities in Tibetan areas of China, but Tibetans are poorly equipped to respond to and take advantage of these opportunities. The factors restricting effective market participation are complex and difficult to assess. There are no easy answers. Many political, social, cultural and environmental factors explain the difficulties encountered by Tibetan communities. However, this paper argues that relevant economic development policy is among crucial factors explaining the inability of Tibetans to compete with non-Tibetan migrants.     

Social Work,Marriage, and Ethnicity: Policy and Practice

This article provides a discussion about marriage with regard to social work policy and practice with cultural groups that experience life differently from predominantly White America. Marriage is influenced by culture, tradition, and economic reality supporting or hindering the success of marriages. Often, parenting is influenced by marriage, as roles are shared and meted through the resources provided by marriage. As an introduction, this article explains the unique contribution of each article in the special issue, showing the need for social work to respond more critically, urgently, and in threefold systemic fashion to create change in the lives of historically vulnerable populations in U.S. society.     

Has Family Policy Come of Age? A Decade Review of the State of U.S. Family Policy in the 1990s

Family policy has come of age in the 1990s, yet it has not achieved a status commensurate with that of economic or environmental policy. Because family policy has been difficult to define, this review proposes an explicit definition of the term family policy and a companion implicit term, a family perspective in policy making It updates the rationale for family policy, arguing that family commitment at its core is particularly consequential in an individualistic market economy with a small social safety net. It chronicles recent developments including philanthropic commitments, state and federal policy initiatives, and the use of research to inform family policy making. Selected family policy issues including family and work conflict, long-term care, family poverty, and marriage, are overviewed. The paper concludes with developments during the decade in theory, methods, and dissemination that hold the potential for capitalizing on the current popularity of families as a theme in policy making.     

Teaching Family Policy

Abstract

Preparing students to engage in family policy education and advocacy is a challenge and opportunity for departments that teach family studies and family policy courses. Students not only need to know theoretical implications of family policy and how research enhances the theory, but also understand the policy process and how research-based information about family can inform policymaking. These students also need to acquire advocacy skills in order to work effectively in different policy arenas. This article illustrates how university family policy educators can structure curricula to provide students with both knowledge and skills vital to effective participation in family policy formation, analysis and critique.     

A Comparative Study of Social Policy Transfer

Abstract

Both the United Kingdom and Australia engaged in social policy transfer of anti-discrimination policy for people with disabilities in the 1990s with the adoption of new legislation whose structure and approach originated in the United States a decade earlier. This paper focuses on the extent of the convergence of disability policies between each country and the USA, and the variables that affected social policy transfer in each nation. By using a comparative approach, this paper allows for a better understanding of the processes and constraints involved in transferring social policy across nations.     

Family Policy and Fertility Intentions in 21 European Countries

European countries show substantial variation in family policy and in the extent to which policies support more traditional male‐breadwinner or more gender egalitarian earner–carer family arrangements. Using data from the European Social Survey, the authors implemented multilevel models to analyze variation in fertility intentions of 16,000 men and women according to individual‐level characteristics and family policy across 21 European countries. Both traditional and earner–carer family support generosity were positively related to first‐birth intentions for men and women. In contrast, only earner–carer support maintains its positive relationship with second birth intentions. Family policy is not in general related to third and higher order parity intentions.     

Cash-Benefit Policy and Childbearing Decisions in Norway

This report analyzes Norway's childcare cash-benefit policy and its relation to fertility decision making among Norwegian women with respect to having a second child. Using information from Norwegian registers, which include information on education and birth timing, the study's focus was on the childcare cash-benefit policy introduced in 1998. Both acceptance of childcare cash benefits and subsequent fertility timing were strongly influenced by women's educational attainment. Norwegian couples chose different strategies concerning work, childcare, and childbearing. Those individuals who were associated with a home scenario, taking the maximum length of cash benefits, transitioned more quickly to a second birth than did others. In contrast, those individuals who were associated with a work scenario, taking none of the cash benefits, proceeded much later, whereas those associated with a mixed scenario, taking cash benefits for a shorter period, were less likely to have a second birth in the near-term but more likely later on. Mixed-scenario couples may have returned to work as a means to reestablish eligibility for parental leave benefits before having a second birth. Whereas the policy appears to have accelerated birth timing, it is not clear whether the policy has increased overall fertility levels.     

Foreign Policy and the Domestic Worker

In 2009, following numerous high profile abuse cases, the Indonesian government placed a moratorium on its citizens taking up employment in Malaysia as domestic workers. From the perspective of feminist International Relations, the emergence of migrant domestic work as a foreign policy concern between these two states is significant – exposing a relationship between foreign policy and the webs of transnationalized social relations of reproduction that underpin the development prospects of middle to low income states. In this article I utilize the example of the Malaysia–Indonesia dispute in order to develop some tentative suggestions concerning the possibility of integrating an analysis of transnational social relations of reproduction into foreign policy analyses. The article initially overviews how the dispute is widely understood in relation to Indonesia's turn to a more democratic foreign policy. The inadequacy of such a reading is explored further. The article suggests that the above-mentioned dispute should rather be understood in relation to the specific configurations of productive–reproductive relations that underpin migratory flows and the role of Indonesia and Malaysia as ‘regulatory’ states involved in the establishment of return-migration systems in which women migrants are viewed as economic commodities and policed via a range of state-sanctioned practices (including commitments to anti-trafficking).     

Abortion,women and national development: the Nigeria experience

The author argues that, if women have the right of self-determination, it is immoral of society to withhold or limit women's access to abortion services in Nigeria. Morality must pertain to society as well as women. In Nigeria, the abortion argument tends to focus on the rights of the fetus or the third party's interest. The abortion issue must involve understanding the rationale that is used by abortion-seeking women. Denial of access to abortion services dehumanizes women and reduces growth in national development. Women carry the burden of responsibility associated with child bearing and rearing. Unwanted pregnancies impose severe psychological, physical, social, and medical dangers on women. Impaired psychological and physical illness creates pain and suffering and limits productivity. "Doing good" is not necessarily accomplished by either abortion or unwanted childbearing. Society both discourages the taking of a human life and supports the health of its citizens, many of whom are women. A child brought into this world who is not adequately taken care of will be a burden to society. When society pursues its own self-interest in preventing abortion as a choice for women, then society becomes immoral and selfish. A woman pursuing her own self-interest is not necessarily immoral. The decision becomes immoral if the woman acts against the wishes of the father. Morality is not necessarily the opposite of the promotion of one's self-interest. Women who seek to terminate a pregnancy for health reasons seek a virtuous option of enhancing the well-being of every individual in society. The right to life for the fetus is very different from the right to self-determination for the abortion-seeking woman. When the Yoruba define a wife as a servant to the husband, the Yoruba deny women personhood. Women know best what serves their self-interest and that of society.     

How Academic Research Shapes Labor and Social Policy

How academic research affects labor and social policy is viewed through a program evaluation framework that highlights the difficulties of determining the causal impact of such research on public policy. The effect is illustrated by examples. My conclusion is that academic research can have a modest to substantial impact on policy. Its impact is enhanced if it has a number of key characteristics: high quality; reputable researchers involved; synthesized and translated into a language understood by policy makers, the general public, and the media; credible champions who will broker and defend it, in the political process or in the public realm; timeliness; and, political acceptability.     

Where are They from and How Far Must They Go? Examining Location and Travel Distance in U.S. Abortion Fund Patients

The current study examines a secondary data analysis of 3,452 administrative cases from a national abortion fund representing patients who received pledges for financial assistance to pay for an abortion from 2010 to 2015 in the United States, where abortion costs are not covered under federal public health programs. Case data were analyzed to assess patients' geographic origin, and whether or not cases were more likely to originate from states with Medicaid and private insurance restrictions. The anticipated travel distance to the provider and whether or not travel distances had been increasing over time were also examined. Results indicate that the majority of pledges are made to residents of the South, Midwest, states without expanded Medicaid access to abortion, and states that have private insurance restrictions on abortion coverage. Results further indicate that those who receive funding pledges anticipated traveling approximately 225 kilometers (140 miles) on average to access the abortion. This distance increased from 2010 to 2015, with patients seeking second trimester procedures expecting to travel nearly 3 times farther than patients in their first term. Abortion fund patients travel great distances to access an abortion and those distances are increasing over time. It is recommended that policy restricting public funding of abortion be repealed to improve access to abortion not only in the United States, but also in other countries where policy restrictions may impede access to abortion, even when it is legal.     

The Impact of Female Cabinet Ministers on a Female-Friendly Labor Environment

The literature indicates that the representation of women in legislatures is positively associated with the passage of female-friendly social policy (e.g., child care or family leave). However, there is little corresponding research concerning the effects of women in cabinet on female-friendly social policy. I argue that this gap must be addressed, because most of the advanced industrial democracies are parliamentary democracies in which policies typically originate at the cabinet level, and governments typically enjoy substantial control over the legislative process. Thus, women in cabinet positions should be ideally placed to promote female-friendly policies; indeed, they are likely to be in a better position to promote these policies than their legislative counterparts. The purpose of this study is to analyze the role of female cabinet ministers in the adoption of female-friendly policies, thus addressing this gap in the gender and politics literature. It should be noted that the influence of female officeholders on female-friendly policy may differ by policy. To assess female officeholders’ effect on female friendly policy in general, I create an index measure using 17 variables related to these policy areas. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, I find that female ministers have a significant effect on the adoption of policies that help to create a more female-friendly working environment.