women's reproductive health

An Overview of Abortion Laws by Guttmacher Institute

Giuliana Gerbino

“An Overview of Abortion Laws.” Guttmacher Institute, 1 Feb. 2023

The Guttmacher Institute is a leading research and policy organization. It monitors and analyzes state policy developments in the United States including legislative, judicial and executive actions, on a broad range of issues related to sexual and reproductive health rights. This source is very useful as it helped me understand what some of the restrictions placed on abortion are as of February 2023. “12 states restrict coverage of abortion in private insurance plans, most often limiting coverage only to when the patient’s life would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term. Most states allow purchase of additional abortion coverage at the additional cost” The facts in this article help me to better understand all the restrictions still placed on abortion. In June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned abortion rights and the information provided in this article has relevant facts  and important details to incorporate in my research paper. 

  1. “36 states require some type of parental involvement in a minor’s decision to have an abortion. 27 states require one or both parents to consent to the procedure, while 9 require that one or both parents be notified”
  2. “12 states restrict coverage of abortion in private insurance plans, most often limiting coverage only to when the patient’s life would be endangered if the pregnancy were to be carries to term. Most states allow purchase of additional abortion coverage at the additional cost.”

Before (and After) Roe V. Wade: New Questions about Backlash by Linda Greenhouse and Reva B. Siegal

Giuliana Gerbino

Greenhouse, Linda, Reva B. Siegal. “Before (and After) Roe V. Wade: New Questions about Backlash.” The Yale Law Journal. 120.8 (2011): 2028-2087. Print. 

Linda Greenhouse is a Clinical Lecturer in Law, Knight Distinguished journalist, and a senior research scholar in Law at Yale Law School and Reva B. Siegal is the Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law at Yale Law School. In this article, the authors talk about the Supreme Court ruling in 1973 on abortion and how things took shape after the ruling. The decision made it possible for pregnant women to get legal abortions from medical practitioners and led to a decrease in pregnancy-related deaths and injury. The authors take the time to view how things were before the court ruling got decided. They consider abortion stands of politicians, catholics, and feminists. They suggest that due to party realignment, the conflict over supreme court ruling got shaped in the following decades. This article is gonna be used mainly as a factual source. The court decision took place, and the reaction of different people were used to write this article. 

  1. “Doctors establishing the American Medical Association (AMA) led a campaign to criminalize abortion, except when necessary to save a pregnant woman’s life.”
  2. “Just as nineteenth-century advocates for criminalizing access to abortion has appealed to medical authority, so, too, did twentieth-century advocates for liberalizing access to abortion.

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies by Joanna N. Erdman, Rebecca J. Cook, et al.

Giuliana Gerbino

Erdman, Joanna N, Rebecca J. Cook, et al. Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014. Print. 

This 16 chapter book written entirely by lawyers, views laws on abortion in all parts of the globe and highlights both the failures and successes of these laws. The chapters investigate issues of access, rights, and justice, as well as social constructions of women, sexuality, and pregnancy, through legal procedures and regimes. They state that,“Although today is exceedingly difficult to encounter any legal treatment of abortion without some comment on the rights involved…Reflecting on historical revolutions led us to think of new transitions in hand and in prospect” (Erdman et. al). The authors write that their aim is to find new approaches in abortion and come up with ideas regarding abortion laws. They suggest that reforms in this legislation and legalization of abortion would help women make good choices about pregnancies. In their conclusion, women stand to benefit the most if restrictive abortion laws get abolished. This book would be a good source to incorporate in my research paper because the authors go in to talk about how legalization of abortion would benefit women.

“Although today is exceedingly difficult to encounter any legal treatment of abortion without some comment on the rights involved…Reflecting on historical revolutions led us to think of new transitions in hand and in prospect”

“Abortion law evolved ‘from placement within criminal or penal codes, to placement within health or public health legislation, and eventually to submergence within laws serving goals of human rights.”

Women Share What Abortion Was Like Before Roe v. Wade: “I Was One of the Lucky Ones, I survived.” By Kaelyn Ford

Giuliana Gerbino

Forde, Kaelyn. “Women Share What Abortion Was Like Before Roe v. Wade: ‘I Was One of the Lucky Ones, I survived’.” ABC News, ABC New Network, 4 Aug. 2018

This source is retrieved from ABC News, a reputable broadcasting company. It is not a primary source, however, it does focus on an interview with Adele Zimmermann, a woman who talks about paying for an illegal abortion before Roe v. Wade. In the article Forde states that “such restrictions are taking abortion access back to the time before Roe when only some states made abortion legal and only in some instances” (Forde). This source provides important information about the restrictions that make getting abortions difficult for women. This can be useful to strengthen my argument about the current day necessity for abortion. 

  1. “Nash said that today, while abortion remains relatively easy to access in the Northeast and on the West Coast, there are regions in the South and middle of the country where clinic closures, mandatory waiting periods and other restrictions have made it very difficult for women.
  2. “Marino added. ‘Women were dying, women were trying to create abortions on their own using coat hangers and things like that.”