Women's Reproductive Health

Abstract

Beginning in the mid-1800s the American Medical Association antiobscenity crusaders and even womens groups supported criminalization of abortion. By 1900 it was illegal nationwide. In the late 1960s women physicians and states began questioning abortion laws since many women had unsafe often fatal illegal abortions. By 1973 4 states had legalized abortion and 15 other states had liberalized abortion laws. A mid-1960 study showed that private patients comprised about 95% of all elective abortions. Poor clinic patients did not have the power to convince 3 physicians to support their request for an abortion. IN 1965 the Supreme Court agreed that a Connecticut Planned Parenthood Affiliate had the right to distribute contraceptives. The 1973 Roe v. Wade Court decision advanced this decision by confirming a womans right to abortion during the first 2 semesters of pregnancy. In 1976 the US Congress passed the Hyde amendment forbidding federal funding (e.g. Medicaid) for abortions except to save a mother. 2 1980 Supreme Court decisions supported the Hyde amendment. The Hyde amendment and these court decisions showed discrimination against poor women. Since then there have been other decisions that have whittled away at Roe v. Wade. Contraceptive failure is responsible for about 50% of the 1.6 million abortions/year. About 60% of women having an abortion are under 25 years old. Thus criminalization of abortion would adversely affect many women as well as society. Many prochoice physicians had cared for women who suffered from botched abortions. Physicians under 45 years old tend to not know how to perform a 2nd trimester abortion because most obstetrician/gynecology residency training programs do not require them to learn it and they do not want to do them. 2nd trimester abortion should be a required part of residency training. Physicians as preservers of womens health should be advocating safe abortion and not adopt the legal vs. illegal abortion dichotomy.