Charles V. Ford

The Abortion Experience: Psychological and Medical Impact

Responding to a need for current factual information concerning abortion, the editors of the volume have compiled 29 contributions from various investigators across the United States. Some of the general conclusions reached from the multiple sources, which include some of the preeminent people in the field, indicate that abortion rates compared to live births are rising rapidly, while the number of illegal abortions has been reduced sharply where legal abortion is readily available. Firsttrimester abortion by vacuum curettage is associated with low morbidity, but experience indicates that secondtrimester abortion by current techniques has a much higher complication rate. The data indicate that approximately 50% of the women seeking abortion are single and there is a trend for women to be below 25 years of age or more than 35 years of age. There has been a gradual increase in public opinion for the acceptance of legalized abortion, particularly since the

Abortion, Society, and the Law

ABSTRACT The rapidity with which changes in legal, social, and medical attitudes toward abortion have occurred can only be described as incredible. Ten years ago therapeutic abortions in hospitals with private service were rare and on clinic services they were almost unknown. In contrast, during the first 18 months of New Yorks new abortion law (July 1,1970, to Dec 31, 1971), 278,122 legal abortions were performed in New York City alone. Responding to the need to gather and consolidate the increasing legal and medical information concerning abortion, the editors of Abortion, Society and the Law have collected exceptionally well-written, scholarly contributions from diverse sources including medicine, law, religion, and philosophy. Unfortunately, rapid accumulation of new medical information and legal interpretation makes it really impossible for a book to be strictly current in the field of abortion. The chapters of Abortion, Society and the Law that include legal views on the rights