Chapter 5: Abortion
Case Presentation: When Abortion Was Illegal—The Odyssey of Sherri Finkbine utilizes the
following sources: “Mrs. Finkbine Undergoes Abortion in Sweden; Surgeon Asserts Unborn Child Was
Deformed—Mother of 4 Took Thalidomide,” The New York Times, August 19, 1962; Bill Becker, “Abortion
to Bar Defective Birth Is Facing Legal Snag in Arizona; Woman Took Tranquilizers That Cause Abnormal
Children—Operation May Be Delayed Pending Legal Study,” The New York Times, July 25, 1962; Linda
Case Presentation: Roe v. Wade draws Douglas S. Wood, “Who is Jane Roe?” CNN Interactive;
as well as the case itself and Alex Witchel, “Norma McCorvey; Of Roe, Dreams And Choices,” The New
York Times, July 28, 1994.
Information in Social Context: A Statistical Profile of Abortion in the United States was
compiled from the following sources: “Abortion, Miscarriage, and Breast Cancer Risk,” National Cancer
Institute, January 12, 2010; “Mental Health and Abortion,” American Psychological Association; Serena
Gordon, “Abortion Safer for Women Than Childbirth, Study Claims,” U.S. News & World Report, January
23, 2012; E. G. Raymond and D. A. Grimes, “The Comparative Safety of Legal Induced Abortion and
Childbirth in the United States,” Obstet. Gynecol. 119, no. 2 (2012): 215–219; Karen Pazol, Andreea A.
Creanga, Kim D. Burley, and Denise J. Jamieson, “Abortion Surveillance—United States, 2011: Table 7,
Social Context: Plan B and Emergency Contraception is based on the following sources:
“Trends in Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing,” Office of Adolescent Health, August 28, 2015; Kathryn Kost
and Stanley Henshaw, “U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions, 2010: National and State Trends
by Age, Race and Ethnicity,” Guttmacher Institute, May 2014; Susan Perry, “Rape, Pregnancy, Statistics
and the Ignorance of Some Politicians,” MinnPost, June 13, 2013; Pam Belluck, “Drug’s Nickname May
Have Aided Politicization,” The New York Times, June 5, 2012; A. Glasier, S. Cameron, P. Fine, et al.,
“Ulipristal Acetate versus Levonorgestrel for Emergency Contraception: A Randomized Non-inferiority Trial
and Meta-analysis,” The Lancet 375 (2010): 555–562; Mayo Clinic Staff, “Morning–After Pill,” Mayo Clinic,
April 14, 2015; Pam Belluck, “Science at Issue in Debate on Morning-After Pill,” The New York Times, June
5, 2012; Pam Belluck and Erik Eckholm, “Religious Groups Equate Abortion with Some Contraceptives,”
For further background, also see the following New York Times articles: by Gina Kolata, “A
Contraceptive Clears a Hurdle to Wider Access,” December 17, 2003; by Gardner Harris, “U.S. Rules
Morning-After Pill Can’t be Sold Over the Counter,” May 7, 2004; “Morning-After Pill Ruling Defies Norm,”
May 8, 2004; “FDA’s Role in Delaying Contraceptive is Criticized,” March 17, 2005; “FDA Puts Off Decision
on Sale of Birth Control,” August 26, 2005; “Official Quits on Pill Delay at FDA,” September 1, 2005;
“Report Details FDA Rejection of Next-Day Pill,” November 14, 2005; “FDA Gains Accord on Wider Sales
of Next-Day Pill,” August 9, 2006; and “F.D.A. Approves Broader Access to Next-Day Pill,” August 25,
2006; “Panel Recommends Approval of After–Sex Pill to Prevent Pregnancy ELLA,” June 17, 2010; “F.D.A.
Approves 5-Day Emergency Contraceptive,” August 13, 2010; by Stephanie Saul, “FDA. Shifts View on
Next-Day Pill,” August 1, 2006; and by Pam Belluck, “Abortion Qualms on Morning-After Pill May Be
Case Presentation: The “Abortion Pill”—The Rise of Medication Abortion draws on Heather
D. Boonstra, “Medication Abortion Restrictions Burden Women and Providers—and Threaten U.S. Trend
Toward Very Early Abortion,” Guttmacher Policy Review 16, no. 1 (2013); Emily Bazelon, “The Dawn of the
Post-Clinic Abortion,” The New York Times Magazine, August 28, 2014; Mary Gatter, Kelly Cleland, and
Deborah L. Nucatola, “Efficacy and Safety of Medical Abortion Using Mifepristone and Buccal Misoprostol
Warning on Abortion Pill,” November 15, 2004; “Some Doctors Voice Worry Over Abortion Pill’s Safety,”
April 1, 2006; “After Two More Deaths, Planned Parenthood Alters Method for Abortion Pill,” March 17,
2006; “Death Tied to Medical Abortion,” May 12, 2006; and “Scientists Will Gather to Discuss Safety of
Abortion Pill,” May 11, 2006; and by
Social Context: The “Partial–Birth Abortion” Controversy is indebted to Diana Greene Foster
and Katrina Kimport, “Who Seeks Abortions at or After 20 Weeks?” Perspectives on Sexual and
Reproductive Health 45, no. 4 (2013): 210–218; and Aida Torres and Jacqueline Darroch Forrest, “Why Do
Women Have Abortions?” Family Planning Perspectives 20, no. 4 (1988): 169–176. For further background
information, see the following New York Times articles: Robin Toner, “Measure Banning Abortion Method
Information used in the Social Context: Supreme Court Decisions After Roe v. Wade is drawn
from the following: on Casey from The New York Times: January 22, 1992; April 23, 1992; June 30, 1992;
May 13, 1993; January 30, 1994; on Webster, from Newsweek: May 1,1989; July 17 1989; and Time: May
1, 1989. On the response to the Webster decision, see Linda Greenhouse, “Supreme Court Upholds Sharp
State Limits on Abortion,” The New York Times, July 4, 1990. The Court ruling on access to clinics and its
background is reported in The New York Times: January 25, 1994 and July 1, 1994. See also Linda
Information in Social Context: State Abortion Laws—Rolling Back Roe? was obtained from
“More State Abortion Restrictions Were Enacted in 2011–2013 Than in the Entire Previous Decade,”
Guttmacher Institute, January 2, 2014; “Fact Sheet: Induced Abortion in the United States,” Guttmacher
Institute, July 2014; Erik Eckholm, “Texas Abortion Clinic Rules Tested in Appeals Court,” The New York
Times, January 7, 2015; Paige Winfield Cunningham, “The Coming Wave of Anti–Abortion Laws,” Politico,
November 28, 2014; Michael Keller and Allison Yarrow, “The Geography of Abortion Access,” The Daily
Institute, January 12, 2010; “Mental Health and Abortion,” American Psychological Association; Hani K.
Atrash and Carol J. Rowland Hogue, “The Effect of Pregnancy Termination on Future Reproduction,”
Baillière’s Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology 4, no. 2 (1990): 391–405; C. J. R. Hogue, W. Cates Jr., C.
Tietze, “The Effects of Induced Abortion on Subsequent Reproduction,” Epidemiologic Reviews 4, no. 1
(1982): 66–94; C. J. Hogue, W. Cates Jr., and C. Tietze, “Impact of Vacuum Aspiration Abortion on Future
Childbearing: A Review,” Family Planning Perspectives 15, no. 3 (1983): 119–126; Tierney Sneed, “Arizona
Abortion Law Pushes Boundaries of What Providers Must Tell Patients,” U.S. New & World Report, April 1,
2015; Rick Rojas, “Arizona Orders Doctors to Say Abortions With Drugs May Be Reversible,” The New
York Times, March 31, 2015; Kevin Sack, “In Ultrasound, Abortion Fight Has New Front,” The New York
Times, May 27, 2010; Susan J. Lee, Henry J. Peter Ralston, Eleanor A. Drey, John Colin Partridge, and
Mark A. Rosen, “Fetal Pain: A Systematic Multidisciplinary Review of the Evidence,” JAMA 294, no. 8
(2005): 947–954; Erik Eckholm, “Theory on Pain Is Driving Rules for Abortions,” The New York Times,
August 1, 2013; “CDC’s Abortion Surveillance System FAQs,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Information in the Chapter 5 Briefing Session comes from the following sources: Dennis Hevesi,
“The Supreme Court; How Debate Over Abortion Evolved With Changes in Science and Society,” The New
York Times, July 4, 1989; Katha Pollitt, “Abortion in American History,” The Atlantic, May 1997; Paul S.
Boyer, ed., The Oxford Companion to United States History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 3;
Rachel Benson Gold, “Lessons from Before Roe: Will Past Be Prologue?” The Guttmacher Report on
Public Policy 6, no. 1 (2003); Linda Greenhouse, “How the Supreme Court Talks About Abortion: The
Implications of a Shifting Discourse,” Suffolk University Law Review XLII, no. 41 (2008): 41–59; “Fact
Zone,” Journal of Perinatology 28 (2008): S4–S8, doi:10.1038/jp.2008.42; Bonnie Steinbock, “Abortion,” in
From Birth to Death and Bench to Clinic: The Hastings Center Bioethics Briefing Book for Journalists,
Policymakers, and Campaigns, ed. Mary Crowley (Garrison, NY: The Hastings Center, 2008), 1–4; Anne
Davis, “How Doctors Date Pregnancies, Explained,” RH Reality Check, October 17, 2013; “Abortion
Procedures,” American Pregnancy Association, May 2015; Healthwise Staff, “Manual and Vacuum
Aspiration for Abortion,” WebMD, November 14, 2014; Neil Osterweil, “Coping With Bed Rest,” WebMD,
February 28, 2005; Ashley Nelson, “An Unspoken Risk of Vaginal Birth,” The New York Times, October 24,
2012; Abdul H. Sultan, Michael A. Kamm et al., “Anal–Sphincter Disruption during Vaginal Delivery,” The
New England Journal of Medicine 329 (1993): 1905–1911; Julie Rovner, “ACLU Sues, Claiming Catholic
Hospitals Put Women at Risk,” NPR, December 2, 2013; and Nina Martin, “Catholic Hospitals Grow, and
With Them Questions of Care,” ProPublica, October 17, 2013.