reproductive age.3 However, other empirical evidence has indicated that state abortion restrictions have no such impact.4 The relationship between state-level abortion policies and birthrates is even murkier. Since the birthrate is the product of the pregnancy rate and the ratio of births to pregnancies, state abortion policies may affect birthrates by influencing one or both of these factors. ...

BACKGROUND In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the penal code prohibits the provision of abortion. In practice, however, it is widely accepted that the procedure can be performed to save the life of a pregnant woman. Although abortion is highly restricted, anecdotal evidence indicates that women often resort to clandestine abortions, many of which are unsafe. However, to date, there are no off...

This Article uses disgust theory — defined as the insights on disgust by psychologists and social scientists — to critique disgust’s role in abortion lawmaking. Its starting point is a series of developments that independently highlight and call into question the relationship between abortion and disgust. First, the Supreme Court introduced disgust as a valid basis for abortion regulation in it...

Background: Emerging data report 30% of women worldwide who obtain elective abortion experience negative and persistent psychological distress afterward. Studies find higher rates of psychological stress, depressive, substance, and anxiety disorders as well as suicidal behaviors, among some populations after abortion as compared to other reproductive events. Of concern, is that current theory a...

In The Lancet, Bela Ganatra and colleagues present an innovative and important analysis of global abortion safety, in which they attempt to move beyond the binary understanding (safe or unsafe) of abortion safety. As the availability of misoprostol increases, and abortion telemedicine services reach more women worldwide, fewer women are undergoing abortions with invasive or outdated methods and...

One-third (34%) of 2,001 women who sought an abortion in 1991-1992 in Wichita, Kansas, were repeat-abortion patients. Compared with first-time abortion patients, repeat-abortion patients were significantly older, more often black, and younger at their first pregnancy (p < .001). The two groups did not vary significantly by income or age at first intercourse. However, repeat-abortion patients we...

Public health discourses on safe abortion assume the term to be unambiguous. However, qualitative evidence elicited from Kenyan women treated for complications of unsafe abortion contrasted sharply with public health views of abortion safety. For these women, safe abortion implied pregnancy termination procedures and services that concealed their abortions, shielded them from the law, were chea...

Termination of pregnancy is commonly performed in the practice of gynaecology and can be conducted via the medical or surgical routes. Complications can arise from both routes and may be physical or psychological in nature. Interventions should be implemented to make the process more bearable for the patient such as facilitating abortion at home, reducing the need for clinic follow-up and provi...

BACKGROUND in general, men involved in legal abortion constitute an invisible group and there is scarcely any knowledge about their experiences and opinions. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to increase knowledge about reactions and reflections by means of a prospective study of men's attitudes and feelings towards abortion. METHODS twenty-six men answered a questionnaire before ab...