A Review of Book Reviews: A Sociological Analysis of Reviews of the Edited Book <i>Experience with Abortion</i>

This paper offers an analysis of the book reviews published about the 1973 book Experience of Abortion: A case study of North-East Scotland, a volume edited by Gordon Horobin. The paper sets the scene at the time of publication of Experience of Abortion, including abortion as a societal issue, the 1967 Abortion Act and the role of the MRC Medical Sociology Unit in Aberdeen. The reviews were analysed using content analysis. Considering the controversy of abortion in the early 1970s, it is interesting that the book reviews were overwhelmingly positive towards both Experience of Abortion and the need for high quality social science research in this field. Several reviews highlighted the importance of having someone like Sir Dugald Baird in Aberdeen and that of the Aberdeen-based Medical Research Council's (MRC) Medical Sociology Unit. Nearly 40 years later abortion has disappeared off the sociology and social policy agenda, at least in the United Kingdom (UK), and Horobin's legacy in medical sociology appears to be in areas other than abortion or reproductive health more generally.