Whatever reproductive choices women make--whether they opt to end a pregnancy through abortion or continue to term and give birth--they are considered to be at risk of suffering serious mental health problems. According to opponents of abortion in the United States, potential injury to women is a major reason why people should consider abortion a problem. On the other hand, becoming a mother can also be considered a big risk. This fine, well-balanced book is about how people represent the results of reproductive choices. It examines how and why pregnancy and its various outcomes have come to be discussed this way. The author's interest in the medicalization of reproduction--its representation as a mental health problem--first arose in relation to abortion. There is a very clear contrast between the construction of women who have abortions, implied by moralized argument against abortion, and the construction that results when the case against abortion focuses on its effects on women's mental health. Lee argues that claims that connect abortion with mental illness have been limited in their influence, but this is not to suggest that they have not become a focus for discussion and have had no impact. The limits to such claims about abortion do not, by any means, suggest limits to the process of the medicalization of pregnancy more broadly, that is, a process of demedicalization. The final theme of Ellie Lee's book is the selective medicalization of reproduction. Centering on the claim that abortion can create a post abortion syndrome, the author examines the "medicalization" of the abortion problem on both sides of the Atlantic. Lee points to contrasts in legal and medical dimensions of the abortion issue that make for some important differences, but argues that in both the United States and Great Britain, the post-abortion-syndrome claim constitutes an example of the limits to medicalization and the return to the theme of motherhood as a psychological ordeal. Lee makes the case for looking to the social dimensions of mental health problems to account for and understand debates about what makes women ill. Ellie Lee is research fellow in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Southampton, Highfield, United Kingdom.

"Now with a new afterword by the author"--Back cover.

Abortion is a legal medical procedure that has been provided to millions of American women. Since the Institute of Medicine first reviewed the health implications of national legalized abortion in 1975, there has been a plethora of related scientific research, including well-designed randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, and epidemiological studies examining abortion care. This research has focused on examining the relative safety of abortion methods and the appropriateness of methods for different clinical circumstances. With this growing body of research, earlier abortion methods have been refined, discontinued, and new approaches have been developed. The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States offers a comprehensive review of the current state of the science related to the provision of safe, high-quality abortion services in the United States. This report considers 8 research questions and presents conclusions, including gaps in research.

The evaluation of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) by the Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3) focuses on maternal conditions, childhood illness, and malnutrition. Specifically, the chapters address acute illness and undernutrition in children, principally under age 5. It also covers maternal mortality, morbidity, stillbirth, and influences to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy. Volume 3 focuses on developments since the publication of DCP2 and will also include the transition to older childhood, in particular, the overlap and commonality with the child development volume. The DCP3 evaluation of these conditions produced three key findings: 1. There is significant difficulty in measuring the burden of key conditions such as unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, nonsexually transmitted infections, infertility, and violence against women. 2. Investments in the continuum of care can have significant returns for improved and equitable access, health, poverty, and health systems. 3. There is a large difference in how RMNCH conditions affect different income groups; investments in RMNCH can lessen the disparity in terms of both health and financial risk.

This comprehensive reference and text synthesizes a vast body of clinically useful knowledge about women's mental health and health care. Coverage includes women's psychobiology across the life span--sex differences in neurobiology and psychopharmacology and psychiatric aspects of the reproductive cycle--as well as gender-related issues in assessment and treatment of frequently encountered psychiatric disorders. Current findings are presented on sex differences in epidemiology, risk factors, presenting symptoms, treatment options and outcomes, and more. Also addressed are mental health consultation to other medical specialties, developmental and sociocultural considerations in service delivery, and research methodology and health policy concerns.

Where do you turn when you are wrestling with a painful decision? You turn to your spouse, trusted friends and relatives, to professionals, to religious advisers. But sometimes you want accurate information and suggestions all in one place, in a form you can use on your own. The decision to have an abortion is not an easy one, and it is not the right decision for every pregnant woman, even in difficult circumstances. Every situation is different. Women considering abortion range in age from nine to fifty-five years. They are rich and poor; married and unmarried; white, black, brown, yellow, and red; members of every religious group and ethnic origin; heterosexual and homosexual. Some have no one to talk to and others have too many people talking to them. Some are in danger from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Abortion: Facts and Feelings is for women who are considering whether to have an abortion, women who have had an abortion and want to do more thinking about it, and relatives, mates, lovers, friends, and health professionals who want to help the women they care for make the best possible choices for themselves. Partners in relationships, families, and friends, and, of course, pregnant women themselves, deserve to have accurate information about this common, but controversial, procedure -- information they can use to make both personal and policy decisions. This book contains that information. It discusses * The practice of abortion in other times and places, and practical information about how it is practiced now* How to find out about abortion laws where you live, and laws in other places where you might go if necessary* The attitudes of major North American religious groups about abortion, and how to obtain more specific information about the approaches of your religion to your situation* The medical and psychological outcomes of abortion* Alternatives to abortion -- delivering the baby and either caring for it yourself or allowing someone else to provide the parenting* The needs and concerns of women in special circumstances, and of women's loved ones Most important, it will help you think through and carry out your own decision, whatever it is.

At a UN General Assembly Special Session in 1999, governments recognised unsafe abortion as a major public health concern, and pledged their commitment to reduce the need for abortion through expanded and improved family planning services, as well as ensure abortion services should be safe and accessible. This technical and policy guidance provides a comprehensive overview of the many actions that can be taken in health systems to ensure that women have access to good quality abortion services as allowed by law.