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  • Title: Impact of a permissive abortion statute on community health care.
    Author: Rovinsky JJ.
    Journal: Obstet Gynecol; 1973 May; 41(5):781-8. PubMed ID: 4696993.
    Abstract:
    3542 first-trimester and 876 second-trimester abortions were performed at City Hospital Center, Elmhurst, New York, from July 1,1970 to June 30, 1972. The relatively stable, semi-closed population of women involved permitted an analysis of the effect of a permissive abortion law and practice on general health care. Tables of patient characteristics and abortion statistics over the period indicated the following: a present rate of abortion of 1009 per 1000 births; no maternal mortality; a reduction in maternal morbidity as experience with abortion techniques increased; a reduction by 44.4% of the number of deliveries without prenatal care, by 16.5% of premature deliveries, by 23.1% of immature deliveries; and a 29.2% reduction of the perinatal mortality rate. Also shown was a marked change in age distribution from the beginning of the period to the end: the incidence of abortions decreased among patients less than 20 years old by 47.1%, and among those over 35 by 46.7%. Additionally, the number of abortions among "never-married" women was reduced by 59.5%. There was a threefold increase in utilization of the antepartum clinic during the first trimester and an increase in prenatal visits. Incidence of spontaneous early abortion was reduced 52.2% and septic abortions were almost entirely eliminated. Postpartum psychosis decreased by half, the rate of voluntary sterilization doubled, and registration of new patients for family planning increased by 116%. Improvements were also seen in pregnancy testing and counseling, in cancer detection through an increase in the number of papanicolaou smears, screening for venereal disease and sickle cell trait/disease, and in the detection of medical, surgical and psychosocial diseases. Pregnancies were largely eliminated in "high-risk" obstetric patients from the childbearing population such as the very young or old, the unmarried, or the emotionally disturbed. The influence of liberalized abortion statutes was shown to have served the community not only by solving immediate health crises but also by contributing to the development of a total health care program.
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