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The Presence and Consequences of Abortion Aversion in Scientific Research Related to Alcohol Use during Pregnancy

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  • Sarah C.M. Roberts

    (Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, Oakland, CA 94143, USA)

Abstract

Recent research has found that most U.S. state policies related to alcohol use during pregnancy adversely impact health. Other studies indicate that state policymaking around substance use in pregnancy—especially in the U.S.—appears to be influenced by an anti-abortion agenda rather than by public health motivations. This commentary explores the ways that scientists’ aversion to abortion appear to influence science and thus policymaking around alcohol and pregnancy. The three main ways abortion aversion shows up in the literature related to alcohol use during pregnancy include: (1) a shift from the recommendation of abortion for “severely chronic alcoholic women” to the non-acknowledgment of abortion as an outcome of an alcohol-exposed pregnancy; (2) the concern that recommendations of abstinence from alcohol use during pregnancy lead to terminations of otherwise wanted pregnancies; and (3) the presumption of abortion as a negative pregnancy outcome. Thus, abortion aversion appears to influence the science related to alcohol use during pregnancy, and thus policymaking—to the detriment of developing and adopting policies that reduce the harms from alcohol during pregnancy.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah C.M. Roberts, 2019. "The Presence and Consequences of Abortion Aversion in Scientific Research Related to Alcohol Use during Pregnancy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-10, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:16:p:2888-:d:257087
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Levels, Mark & Sluiter, Roderick & Need, Ariana, 2014. "A review of abortion laws in Western-European countries. A cross-national comparison of legal developments between 1960 and 2010," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 95-104.
    2. Foster, D.G. & Biggs, M.A. & Ralph, L. & Gerdts, C. & Roberts, S. & Glymour, M.M., 2018. "Socioeconomic outcomes of women who receive and women who are denied wanted abortions in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 108(3), pages 407-413.
    3. Katherine Keenan & Emily Grundy & Michael G Kenward & David A Leon, 2014. "Women's Risk of Repeat Abortions Is Strongly Associated with Alcohol Consumption: A Longitudinal Analysis of a Russian National Panel Study, 1994–2009," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-8, March.
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    Keywords

    alcohol; pregnancy; abortion; policy;
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