Most industrialized countries have increased access to abortion over the past 30 years. Economic theory predicts that abortion laws affect sexual behavior since they change the marginal cost of having risky sex. We use gonorrhea incidence as a metric of risky sexual behavior. Using a panel of 41 North American, European and Central Asian countries over the period 1980-2000, we estimate the impa...

The high demand for abortion related services in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia indicates a reliance on abortion to control fertility and highlights an opportunity to increase access to contraceptives and improve post-abortion care. We analyzed the medical records of 1,200 women seeking abortion related services. Logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with use of modern or long-act...

Globally, nearly half of all maternal deaths from unsafe abortion occur in Africa. Abortion-related deaths and injuries are especially tragic, because when properly performed, abortion is one of the safest of all medical procedures. Factors contributing to this neglected public health crisis include inadequate health care resources and infrastructure, restrictive laws and policies, stigma, and ...

Introduction An abortion is the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. Abortion can occur spontaneously or can be induced. A spontaneous abortion is usually referred to as miscarriage. Hospital based studies conducted in most African countries have shown that abortion leads to about 50% of maternal deaths in Africa. In addit...

In 2007, the US Supreme Court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, also known as the Federal Abortion Ban or "the Ban." The decision undermines decades of established US abortion law that had recognised the preservation of the health of women as a paramount consideration. The Ban asserts that the state's interests in how an abortion is performed and in fetal life override women's ...

The debate over abortion rights is a recent one when compared to contraception practices and abortion itself. Ancient and medieval civilizations are known for utilizing and elaborating on preconception and post conception methods. Although the theme is rather archaic, pro-choice and pro-life partisans offer opinions that are not often based on research, but rather based on emotions. This articl...

The purpose of this study is to describe the knowledge and attitudes regarding abortion of a sample of health professionals in Mexico. In particular, we aim to explore their association with the practice of abortion and the care of post-abortion complications, taking into consideration the present legal framework in Mexico. The data come from an anonymous and computerized survey applied to part...

INTRODUCTION Worldwide, 13% of maternal deaths are caused by complications of spontaneous or induced abortion, 29% in Uruguay and nearly half (48%) in the Pereira Rossell Hospital. PURPOSE This paper describes a risk reduction strategy for unsafe abortions in Montevideo, Uruguay, where over one-fourth of maternal deaths are caused by unsafe abortion. METHODS Although abortion is not legal i...

The legal regulation of abortion by gestational age, or length of pregnancy, is a relatively undertheorized dimension of abortion and human rights. Yet struggles over time in abortion law, and its competing representations and meanings, are ultimately struggles over ethical and political values, authority and power, the very stakes that human rights on abortion engage. This article focuses on t...

SUMMARY INTRODUCTION In Ghana unsafe abortion remains a major public health problem despite apparent liberalization of the law on abortion over two decades. The contention is that the current law on abortion makes enforceability difficult and leaves room for untrained personnel to engage in dangerous abortion procedures and that there is need for law reform. OBJECTIVES To bring into focus how...