Politics of social change: abortion reform. The role of health professionals in the legislative process

The role of health professionals in the legislative process of abortion reform is reviewed by examining the effect of their work as government experts, members of professional societies, individual citizen-experts, and professional advisors to consumer groups. Government experts provide a wealth of technical assistance to legislators beyond the requirements of their positions and are invaluable to the legislative process. Professional societies could also be very helpful, but are plagued by the strong conflicting opinions of their members on the controversial issues that concern the legislators. Individual volunteer citizen-experts tend to be strong proponents of a new public health cause, and emotionalism does not help the legislators in the careful weighing of alternatives. Professional advisors to consumer lobbying organizations can also profitably affect legislators to the extent of the group's organizational and popular strength. On the abortion issue, health professionals should realize the political imperatives of the issue that may seem irrelevant to them. As yet, Congress has clearly not shown an interest in federal legislation on abortion because the need for such action has not been established. The health professional's role is to competently create that need.