Legalized Abortion and the Public Health Report of a Study (1975) / Chapter Skim
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1. Introduction
1. Introduction
Pages 9-18
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From page 9... ...
Defining the Health Effects of Abortion "Health effects" is a broad concept that could include almost all aspects of personal and social well being if health is defined as more than "merely the absence of disease or infirmity. "l/_ The health effects of abortion include physica1, menta1, emotiona1, and social outcomes of the procedure.
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From page 10... ...
In an effort to bring these divergent models together, writers in the field often use the notion of a legal and procedural continuum. At one end, the law states that abortion may be easily obtained at the initiative of the woman; in the middle, legal abortion is available only under specified medical or socio-economic conditions and procedural requirements; and at the other end, the law prohibits abortion completely, with occasional exceptions if the life or health of the pregnant woman is seriously endangered.2/ The study group found this legal classification spectrum useful and therefore adopted a set of terms and definitions, used with consistent meaning throughout this report, to reflect the continuum: non-restrictive legislation, moderately restrictive legislation, and restrictive legislation.
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From page 11... ...
u 44 U O 01 B 01 4J CO CO C 00 3 rH 03 3 u • • m o -H a a O > tn u B -a B O M jj B u - .a C.C ^ •H = i-l B 01 -H 0 C 0 -H 01 d a -H C 3 C u - .u O VX 3 m •H O 4J B 3 •-)
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From page 12... ...
illegal but medically safe abortions are generally available to upper and middle class women from practicing physicians, although the vast majority of women who obtain abortions are presumed to obtain them illegally in unsanitary environments. A 1971 conference of the International Planned Parenthood Federation on induced abortion concluded that illega1, criminally induced abortion was widespread in the Middle East and North Africa and that legal restrictions were not effective in containing the demand for abortions.8/ Another variation of the difference between abortion legislation and practices is seen in jurisdictions with moderately restrictive abortion laws that are interpreted in a restrictive fashion.
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From page 13... ...
It can be assumed, but not proved, that most of the deaths and medical complications from illegal abortion cited in Chapters 3 and 4 derive from such abortions. In this report, reference to "health effects of illegal abortion" will imply this latter model of illegal abortion and not the technically illegal abortions provided by a medically trained person in a comparatively safe environment.
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From page 14... ...
adopted moderately restrictive abortion legislation that incorporated most of the conditions included in the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code. And, in 1970, four more states -- Alaska, Hawaii, New York, and Washington -- adopted non-restrictive legislation that removed nearly all restrictions on the conditions under which legal abortions could be obtained.
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From page 15... ...
First, non-restrictive abortion laws have been in effect for so short a time that it is difficult to establish valid trend data; second, differentiating the health and demographic effects of abortion from many other variables is difficult both theoretically and practically; and third, it is difficult to demonstrate the connections between demographic trends and health status. Inadequate data also preclude a discussion of the more general health effects of denying abortion to women including the social and psychological risks of carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term.
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From page 16... ...
The other is the difference in risks between first- and secondtrimester terminations. Although the "health effects" of abortion can include a wide range of subjects, data constraints have limited the report's analysis to those topics on which there is useful information.
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From page 17... ...
"Legal Abortions in the United States Since the 1973 Supreme Court Decisions," Family Planning Perspectives 1:23-31, JanuaryFebruary 1975.
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From page 18... ...
14. American Law Institute, Model Penal Code, sec.
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