Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-9q27g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T17:48:25.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Abortion and infant mortality before and after the 1973 US Supreme Court decision on abortion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Leon S. Robertson
Leon S. Robertson
Affiliation:
Center for Health Studies and Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The fifty states of the US were compared in 1971–72 and 1974–75 with respect to percentage apparent conceptions aborted and infant mortality rates attributed to various causes. Only non-vehicle accidental deaths were consistently related to abortion. The correlation is non-linear; non-vehicle accidental deaths were especially high in states with little or no abortion. A decline in non-vehicle accidental deaths from before to after the Supreme Court decision was most pronounced in states where there were fewest abortions before the decision and where increases in abortion occurred following the decision.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , July 1981 , pp. 275 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © 1981, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bognar, Z. & Czeizel, A. (1976) Mortality and morbidity associated with legal abortions in Hungary. Am. J.publ. Hlth, 66, 568.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cates, W. Jr, Kimball, A.M., Gold, J., Rubin, G.L., Smith, J.C., Rochat, R.W. & Tyler, C.W. Jr (1979) The health impact of restricting public funds for abortion. Am. J. publ. Hlth, 69, 945.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Center for Disease Control (1971–1977) Abortion Surveillance. US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington.Google Scholar
Daling, J.R. & Emanuel, I. (1977) Induced abortion and subsequent outcome of pregnancy in a series of American women. New Engl. J. Med. 297, 1241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duffy, E.A. (1971) The Effect of Changes in the State Abortion Laws. US Public Health Service, Rockville, Md.Google Scholar
Gandy, R.J. (1979) An estimate of the effect of abortions on the stillbirth rate. J. biosoc. Sci. 11, 173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hansen, H. (1978) Decline of Down's syndrome after abortion reform in New York State. Am. J. ment. Defic. 83, 185.Google ScholarPubMed
Lanman, J.T., Kohl, S.G. & Bedell, J.H. (1974) Changes in pregnancy outcome after liberalization of the New York State abortion law. Am. J. Obstet. Gynec. 118, 485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Center for Health Statistics (1971–1975) Vital Statistics of the United States, Volume II, Mortality. US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington.Google Scholar