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Juwanna Porras

Oscar E. Martinez II

ENGL 1302 217

29 January 2024

The Different Aspects of Abortion: An Annotated Bibliography

Amanda Roberti (2021) “Women Deserve Better:” The Use of the Pro-Woman Frame in Anti-

abortion Policies in U.S. States, Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 42:3, 207-

224, DOI: 10.1080/1554477X.2021.1925478

In this article, Roberti explains, using visual aids, how the anti-abortion movement and

the pro-women movement are still very far from each other and explains how the anti-

abortion lawmakers use a “love them both” approach advocating their point of view. This

has allowed lawmakers to stop using violence as an approach and instead use a “nurturant

parent” approach, which makes it more appealing to society because all these arguments

are presented as being in women’s best interest. The author also mentioned how,

historically, “women have been left out of gender-based policies in the United States,

explaining that these can become a threat to women’s rights as they go against the

reproductive liberty of women” (218). Reading this article was helpful in understanding

how lawmakers can influence the public by using a different approach than the one where

not only the fetus's life is in danger, but also the woman’s life. I also liked the way the

author mentioned that it is important to start thinking more about women’s health and let

them participate more in reproductive laws because it can cause harm to them in the long

run.
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Biggs, M. Antonia, et al. “Perceived Abortion Stigma and Psychological Well-Being over Five

Years after Receiving or Being Denied an Abortion.” PloS One, vol. 15, no. 1, 2020, pp.

e0226417–e0226417, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226417.

In this article, Biggs, et al. had as an objective to analyze the perceptions, psychological

effects, and stigmas of abortion after receiving or being denied one for over 5 years. For

that, they recruited women who wanted to have an abortion from 30 facilities across the

US and interviewed them one week after their procedure and then after 5 years. They also

analyze the stigmas of those who were once denied an abortion because of their

gestational age limit. The results show that over half of those who were seeking an

abortion thought that if other people around them knew about their decision, they would

be looked down on, while people who were denied an abortion and carried their

pregnancy didn’t have many stigmas about abortion from people close to them. This

article makes a good point in showing how stigmas about abortion can make women face

emotional distress for years while not being biased. I liked the way the authors talked

about the topic of abortion and explained the impact that stigmas can have a big impact.

Bruce, Tricia C. “Efficacy, Distancing, and Reconciling: Religion and Race in Americans’

Abortion Attitudes.” Religions (Basel, Switzerland ), vol. 11, no. 9, 2020, pp. 475-,

https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090475.

The main focus of this article is to explain how the perceptions that people in the US

have about abortion can be influenced by their religion and their race. However,

assuming that people with different religious beliefs share the same opinion about

abortion is also wrong. To have a clearer response, the researcher studied a group of

people considering their religion and their race and identified three processes that were
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important while shaping their views on abortion: “efficacy (believing that one can make a

difference), distancing (being emotionally away from the issue), and reconciling (looking

for ways to bring together the different opinions)” (18). The results showed that even

though religion did play a big role in people’s perception of abortion, what played a more

important role in their perceptions was their background. This article was a good way to

understand how even religion can affect the way a person perceives abortion, considering

that a lot of the arguments from anti-abortion are religious-based.

Gutiérrez Vázquez, Edith Y., and Emilio A. Parrado. “Abortion Legalization and Childbearing in

Mexico.” Studies in Family Planning, vol. 47, no. 2, 2016, pp. 113–28,

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4465.2016.00060.x.

The authors of this article start by explaining the different effects after the legalization of

abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy in 2007 in the Federal District of Mexico

and how “making it the largest jurisdiction in Latin America, allow women to have

abortions on request during the first trimester of pregnancy” (113). They examined the

metropolitan area differences and age patterns regarding childbearing between 2000 and

2010. Their statistical results showed that there was a systematic association between

abortion legalization and fertility. In other words, “the law contributed to a lower fertility

rate in Mexico City compared to other metropolitan areas, in women between the ages of

20-34” (113). This article makes a good point in proving an important side effect of legal

abortion in society, like low fertility rates, and denies the stigmas that the legalization of

abortion would increase women's deaths or would cause more unwanted pregnancies.
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Hadley, Janet. “The Issue of Abortion in America: An Exploration of Social Controversy.”

Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 25, no. 4, 1999, pp. 355–56,

https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.25.4.355-a.

In this article, Hadley explains that in America, there are some people who think that

abortion is just based on the questions of kill or let kill and talks about a doctor who

worked in the US and was killed for practicing abortions at clinics. She also mentions

that the debate on abortion most likely will never hit common ground because of the

different perspectives. She analyzed case histories and realized that a lot of doctors

denied abortions because of their morals. She shares her opinion by saying that “the only

way to overcome this debate is to look beyond the nation's borders” (356). I liked this

article particularly because the author mentioned how doctors who practiced safe

abortions were still murdered because of the misinformation that still exists around the

idea of abortion, and it shows that people don’t think about the needs of the women, but

as a personal moral issue.

Looi, Mun-Keat. “Abortion: UN Is Urged to Intervene in ‘Human Rights Crisis’ in US after

Ending of Rights.” BMJ (Online), vol. 380, 2023, pp. 521–521,

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p521.

This article written by Looi, exposes the situation in which five charities called on the

United Nations to act to what they have described as “human rights crisis” in the US after

the wake of the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling to restrict access to this service to

women. The author mentions that “these five charities wrote an open letter where they

plead for UN officials to visit the US and ask politicians to follow international law and

their obligations as UN members to protect the rights of life, health, privacy, liberty, and
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security” (1). The letter also lists a few responses from US healthcare practitioners about

the effects of anti-abortion on women, where they described cases where women who had

a miscarriage had difficulties accessing abortion and were denied one in cases of ectopic

pregnancy. Another example mentioned included hospitals delaying care until the

women’s health was severely deteriorated and pregnant women forging pregnant care to

avoid surveillance. I liked how this article covered more about how American healthcare

treats abortion, and how unfair it is for women as their life is put at risk.

Major, Brenda, et al. “Abortion and Mental Health: Evaluating the Evidence.” The American

Psychologist, vol. 64, no. 9, 2009, pp. 863–90, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017497.

For this article, Major, et al. evaluated empirical research to look for the relationship

between induced abortion and women’s mental health. “The two main factors that were

addressed were the relative risks associated with abortion compared with the risks of

alternatives and the sources of variability in women’s responses to abortion” (863). The

results showed that there is no evidence that proves that in some cases abortion can cause

mental health problems, and instead explains that there might be other factors and risks

that can relate to abortion and generate distress. However, most women who chose to end

their pregnancy didn’t face mental health issues, and either way, some others did. This

article added more information about mental health and abortion that helped me have a

better understanding of how abortion and mental health are topics that go together. As I

mentioned previously, while abortion can be a hard topic to talk about and a hard process

to go through, that doesn’t mean that it can cause mental health problems.
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Rivera Rodriguez, Grecia, et al. “The Medical and Financial Burden of Illegal Abortion.” Curēus

(Palo Alto, CA), vol. 14, no. 10, 2022, pp. e30514–e30514,

https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.30514.

This article discusses how abortion is still a hard subject to talk about, however, it has

been present in human history for a long time, and because of socioeconomic and

technological developments the perception of this subject has also changed. The author of

this article explains the impact and medical complications of illegal abortions by using

EBSCO, PubMed/Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE, and DARE, focusing on the risks of

illegal abortion. The conclusion of this article mentions how, for example, even if

governments don’t legalize abortion, women will continue to seek unsafe procedures to

get the result they want; however, it is important to mention the importance of the effects

that illegal abortion can have on society. It briefly mentions the impact of abortion in the

U.S. and other countries after being legalized. I liked this article because illegal abortion

does impact society, and putting this situation could help lawmakers realize that

legalizing it may not be a bad idea but instead a way to prevent more women from

suffering from bad procedures or even death.

Sparrow, Margaret June. “A Woman’s Choice.” Australian & New Zealand Journal of

Obstetrics & Gynaecology, vol. 44, no. 2, 2004, pp. 88–92,

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1479-828X.2004.00190.x.

Sparrow mentions in the article how abortion is the most common gynecological

operation in New Zealand and Australia, and she also elaborates on the fact that this is a

safe procedure whether carried out surgically or medically. On the contrary, she mentions

that the use of abortifacients has been unscientific and illegal. “The usage of mifepristone
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as an option for induced abortion became recently available in New Zealand because of

political, professional, legal, socioeconomic, and commercial reasons” (88). In the end,

she mentions how feminists’ attitudes regarding abortion can contribute to the public’s

opinion and mentions that the desire for motherhood and a good quality of life can

influence women in their choice against or pro-abortion. I liked this article because of the

perspective she used in her arguments, which looks at women's rights and demonstrates

that the legalization of abortion won’t generate more abortions and doesn't have negative

effects.

Weitz, Tracy A. “Rethinking the Mantra That Abortion Should Be ‘Safe, Legal, and Rare.’”

Journal of Women’s History, vol. 22, no. 3, 2010, pp. 161–72,

https://doi.org/10.1353/jowh.2010.0595.

Weitz begins by explaining that abortion is one of the most common issues today. “The

article examines and shows how the constant desire to find an end to abortion has led to

many wars with different fundaments like whether abortion should be safe, legal, and

rare” (161). The author examines history and the consequences of some of these wars

and argues that women’s health and well-being are harmful when people only focus on

solving the conflict of abortion over women’s need for abortion. She also demonstrates

how focusing on not legalizing abortion reduces access to care and sets unreachable goals

in relation to the number of abortions that happen in the U.S. I chose this article because

of the strong arguments that she used in regard to the legalization of abortion, and how

important it is to recognize it as health care because otherwise, the number of women

suffering from dangerous procedures will only increase more.