When it comes to the hot button topic of abortion it seems to draw a more political debate than a discussion about access to safe and affordable health care. Almost half of American women have terminated at least one pregnancy. And yet it is still a taboo topic that is frown upon.
The practice of abortion has been known since ancient history. Various methods have been used to perform or attempt an abortion, including the administration of herbs, the use of sharpened implements, the application of abdominal pressure, and other techniques. The first recorded evidence of induced abortion is from the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus in 1550 BCE.
So it's safe to say this isn't a new concept. Social attitudes towards abortion shifted in the context of a backlash against the women's rights movement. Abortion had previously been widely practiced and legal under common law in early pregnancy. And only became so because of the standardization of the medical profession and the criminalization of "granny midwives". These midwives were a threat to the medical profession because they were often at a lower cost and had better accessibility to their patients.
By the early twentieth century, the majority of white women living in the United States were giving birth in hospitals under the care of a physician. In 1921, the majority of women who gave birth under conditions that were indigenous, eclectic, spirit based, and not according to the standards of modern medicine, were the rural black women of the South. African American midwives and women of the South maintained the core qualities of the home birthing traditions, handed down through a matrilineal system of recruitment and training from the period of enslavement throughout the twentieth century.
Not only were they trusted to assist in births they were often called upon to aid in local abortions as well. This occurred amidst a major program of midwife training and regulation. Public Health officials of the early twentieth century urged midwife regulation as a temporary measure. Medical professionals considered the lay midwives of the south a necessary evil. They were necessary because the population they served was left out of a medical system that operated according to the practices and laws of racial segregation.
They were evil, however, because they were believed to carry disease, to be incapable, and inherently responsible for elevated levels of infant and maternal mortality in the South. Yet health authorities could think of no better solution than to train and regulate the best of the practicing lay midwives and eliminate those whom they considered unwilling to follow safe practices.
The transition from home to hospital was not an easy one for rural southern women. Cost and transportation were often barriers they faced. Nothing has changed but the elimination of our trusted community leaders. Abortions became unsafe with new restrictions.
In 1965, abortion was so unsafe that 17 percent of all deaths due to pregnancy and childbirth were the result of illegal abortion. Today, less than 0.3 percent of women undergoing legal abortions at all gestational ages sustain a serious complication requiring hospitalization.
The health and well-being of women and children suffer the most in states that have the most stringent laws that restrict access to safe and legal abortion. Compared to states that support women’s health, those states that oppose safe and legal abortion spend far less money per child on a range of services such as foster care, education, welfare, and the adoption of children who have physical and mental disabilities.
The states that have the strongest laws against safe and legal abortion are also the states in which women suffer from lower levels of education and higher levels of poverty, as well as from a lower ratio of female-to-male earnings. They also have a lower percentage of women in the legislature and fewer mandates requiring insurance providers to cover minimum hospital stays after childbirth.
In 1973, the majority of abortions were performed in hospitals. Today, most abortions are performed in health centers. This change in locale has also allowed more women to have access to comprehensive reproductive health services, including, but not limited to, contraceptive counseling, family planning services, and gynecological care.
In summation, abortion access is health care. Limiting access to safe and legal abortions does not stop abortions from happening. It only increases the number of unsafe and illegal abortions. If you find yourself in need of abortion access or wanting to learn more please go to https://www.awomanschoiceinc.com/awc-greensboro
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