NEW YORK - Stressing the need to find common ground in the abortion debate while securing policies to protect safe and legal reproductive rights for women, the Open Society Institute, part of the Soros Foundations Network, today released a paper examining the changing science, politics, and public attitudes on abortion.

"Everything about abortion in America has changed in the three decades since Roe v. Wade guaranteed a constitutional right to privacy, except the way people talk about it," said Ellen Chesler, director of OSI's Program on Reproductive Health and Rights, and author of the feature article in "Ideas for an Open Society."

In the second issue of OSI's new Ideas series, Chesler, also the author of a biography on birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger, discusses the importance of emergency contraception, RU-486, and the need to lift restrictive legal provisions that govern surgical abortions in her piece, "The Abortion Debate: Finding Common Ground."

Also included in the issue is Jane Manners', "Manhattanville MIC Center: Model Neighborhood Reproductive Health Care," a case study of one of eight Maternity, Infant Care-Women's Health Services run by the City of New York that offers family planning services and prenatal care to women in low-income neighborhoods. Manners, a program associate for OSI's Governance and Public Policy program and former staff writer at Brill's Content, reports on the personalized attention that women receive at the center; each is assigned to and receives continuous care and counseling from a single physician or midwife throughout her pregnancy.

However MIC centers are prohibited from performing abortions. Manners argues that if MIC centers could offer their patients this early option, much of the emotional toll and public shame of visiting an abortion clinic and being treated by unfamiliar doctors would be alleviated. Currently, should an MIC center patient request an abortion, her doctor must refer her to a public hospital or clinic, provided the patient has Medicaid coverage.

OSI's new Ideas series, to be released six times a year, debates provocative and innovative ideas and strategies for social change to advance democratic, open society values. Written by OSI program directors, trustees, and grantees, upcoming issues will focus on overreliance on incarceration, reform of urban high schools, and other OSI projects. The premier issue of Ideas examined campaign finance reform.

Current and past issues of "Ideas for an Open Society" are available on the web at www.soros.org or in hard copy by contacting info.USprograms@sorosny.org.

Note to reporters: interviews with Ellen Chesler, Jane Manners, and other policy experts are available by contacting Amy Weil at Aweil@sorosny.org or 212-548-0381.

The Open Society Institute is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open society around the world. OSI 's U.S. Programs seek to strengthen democracy in the United States by addressing barriers to opportunity and justice, broadening public discussion about such barriers, and assisting marginalized groups to participate equally in civil society and to make their voices heard.

U.S. Programs challenge over-reliance on the market by advocating appropriate government responsibility for human needs and promoting public interest and service values in law, medicine, and the media. OSI's U.S. Programs support initiatives in a range of areas, including access to justice for low and moderate income people; independence of the judiciary; ending the death penalty; reducing gun violence and over-reliance on incarceration; drug policy reform; inner-city education and youth programs; fair treatment of immigrants; reproductive health and choice; campaign finance reform; and improved care of the dying. OSI is part of the network of foundations, created and funded by George Soros, active in more than 50 countries around the world.