The author describes three policy debates in Austria: initial legalization in the early 1970s, the defeat of an anti-abortion referendum initiative in 1978, and the authorization of Mifegyne—the ‘abortion pill’—in the late 1990s. The women's movement has been very influential in all abortion debates through their activism in the left-wing Austrian Social Democratic party and the long-term commitment of that party to women's right to self-determination. In all debates as well, the women's policy agencies acted for the movement inside the state policy-making processes. Austrian abortion politics is an example of movement success in part through state feminism.
Keywords: abortion politics, Austria, Austrian Social Democratic party, Mifegyne, policy-making, referendum, self determination, state feminism, women's movement, women's policy agencies