Therapeutic abortions in California: First year's experience under new legislation

Abstract

At the time of this report, over 5,000 abortions will have been performed under California's new abortion law, which became effective November, 1967. The law permits abortion under two general provisions: (1) when “there is substantial risk that continuance of the pregnancy would gravely impair the physical or mental health of the mother”; and (2) when “the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.” Of all applications submitted for abortion 91 per cent were approved. Not surprisingly, more than 88 per cent of the abortions were done under the mental health provision of the law. The ages of the patients ranged from 12 to 46 years, with 29 per cent being under 20 and 26 per cent 30 and over. Nearly 90 per cent of the women were white and 10 per cent were nonwhite; this ratio closely approximates the color distribution of the general population. Although there is no residency requirement in the law, less than 2 per cent of the total patients were out-of-state residents. Over 50 per cent of the abortions were performed on women who had never been married, while only 11 per cent of the state's live births are to unmarried women. Using the number of legal abortions per 1,000 live births as a means of comparison, there are marked geographic differences in the experience of various areas of the state. There is no way of determining what proportion of mothers having therapeutic abortions would have received illegal abortions if the new legislation were not in effect. However, it is estimated that 20,000 to 100,000 California residents seek illegal abortions yearly. If the smaller figure is close to reality, a fair proportion of women who might have sought illegal abortions may now be obtaining care through the provisions of the new abortion act.