The Abortion Debate in Mexico: Realities and Stalled Policy Reform

Over 500,000 clandestine abortions occur annually in Mexico, many under unfavourable health conditions. An uneasy silence about this situation has long prevailed. Since the 1970s, abortion has appeared periodically in public discourse and on the decision-making agenda, only for action to be repeatedly postponed. Mobilisation around the abortion issue grew slowly, but debate and controversy became nationwide as the country began to experience systemic change in 2000. Despite increasing political pluralism and growing awareness of the existing problems, for now in Mexico, as elsewhere in Latin America, the question of abortion is not judged sufficiently pressing to merit major policy change. However, improved contraceptive use and the institution of new technologies and post-abortion care are helping to make abortions safer and rarer.     

Constitutional limitations of the privacy framework advanced in Eisenstadt v. Baird and Roe v. Wade

This paper examines the role of framing in advancing a progressive sexual and reproductive rights agenda. U.S. Supreme Court decisions including Griswold v. Connecticu and Eisenstadt v. Baird helped establish legal precedent invoking a ＂privacy framework＂ for subsequent cases including Roe v. Wade （as well as Doe v. Bolton and, more recently, Lawrence v. Texas）. This paper highlights the limitations of the privacy framework while exploring more potentially efficacious frames.     

Isolation and Individualization of Conceptus and Maternal Tissues from Abortions and Placentas for Parentage Testing in Cases of Rape and Abandoned Newborns*

Abstract: Abortion specimens are often submitted to forensic laboratories as the only piece of physical evidence in rape and incest cases. The recovery of conceptus tissues from this evidence permits the use of paternity testing to evaluate suspects. In cases of abandoned newborns, the recovery of maternal tissue from the placenta allows for the direct comparison of genetic profiles between the suspected mother and the biological mother. We report on the identification and isolation of conceptus tissues from embryonic‐ and fetal‐period abortions, and maternal tissues from delivered placentas, by gross and low‐magnification examination with manual dissection. Hundreds of single‐source samples have been successfully recovered by this method and short tandem repeat typed using standard forensic procedures. We additionally describe extraembryonic tissues that can be recovered and typed in the absence of the embryo proper. We conclude that an expertise and protocols can be developed by forensic laboratories for the routine analysis of this evidence.     

Taking Abortion Rights Seriously: Whole Woman's Health v Hellerstedt

In Whole Woman's Health v Hellerstedt the Supreme Court of the United States passed down its most important decision on abortion for just under a decade. By a majority of 5‐3, the Court ruled that two provisions in a Texas law regulating abortion on grounds of women's health were constitutionally invalid, placing a ‘substantial obstacle’ in the way of women seeking to exercise their right to abortion. This comment delineates the key ways in which the Court's application of the standard of constitutional review under Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992) to the Texas provisions marks a landmark development for the protection of the constitutional right to abortion established in Roe v Wade, not the least by making clear that state abortion regulations which cite ‘women's health’ justifications should not pass constitutional review where those justifications lack a credible factual basis.     

Policy Voting in Senate Elections: The Case of Abortion

Questions about whether voters rely on their policy preferences when casting ballots have been present since scholars first began examining the determinants of voting behavior. This paper seeks to contribute to research in this area by analyzing abortion policy voting in Senate elections. Specifically, I investigate how the effects of national party position divergence, candidate position divergence, and voter information and salience moderate the relationship between abortion policy preferences and vote choice. The results suggest that the national parties' divergence on abortion does not directly strengthen the connection between abortion policy preferences and ballot decisions. Instead, candidate contrast appears to be the key. And, well informed and motivated voters are especially responsive. Taken together, the findings illuminate the nature of abortion policy voting and also inform the burgeoning scholarship on campaign effects, the role of information, and issue publics in American politics.     

Abortion Law and Scotland: An Issue of What?

In recent years, several decisions have been made regarding the devolution of abortion laws from central government at Westminster to the devolved regions of the United Kingdom. This article considers the decision to devolve abortion law to Scotland. It addresses Westminster debates from the time, employing a discursive analysis to examine the arguments made for this legislative move. It argues that the debate was largely a proxy argument for the broader question of Westminster–Edinburgh relations and Scottish independence. It further argues that utilising abortion in this way is problematic, and politicises an area which is better seen as an issue solely of women's rights.     

Radicalized Margins: Eric Rudolph and Religious Violence 1

In recent years we have witnessed a growing body of scholarship that asserts that religion often motivates violence; anti-abortion violence is presented as a prominent example. Through examining the rhetoric and actions of anti-abortion bomber Eric Rudolph, I question the centrality of religion when invocations of divine authority or apocalyptic narratives are conspicuously absent in his justificatory writings. I argue that other social, political, and strategic considerations are more significant in the emergence of a radicalized anti-abortion movement than religion. This analysis nuances notions of a causal relationship between religion and violence and calls for interrogation of the category.     

A Case of Toxic Shock due to Clandestine Abortion by Misoprostol self‐administration

Maternal mortality and morbidity are the leading causes of death and illness, respectively, among women of reproductive age in many countries throughout the world. Of all maternal deaths, those related to unsafe abortions are the most widely underestimated, but they are also the most largely preventable. Medical abortion is a safe and reliable method for termination of a pregnancy in early gestation, although it is important to be aware of signs and symptoms of severe infection and toxic shock syndrome after the medical termination of pregnancy; case studies in literature are rarely fatal events. We report the first case of septic shock syndrome following a clandestine pregnancy termination with a misoprostol‐only regimen (12 tablets 200 μg each). Autopsy findings and histopathological examination proved that the woman died from septic shock. This case suggests to improve the forensic investigations in case of unsafe, often clandestine, abortion is suspected.     

外伤与流产因果关系分析

目的 研究外伤性流产法医学鉴定案件的特点,探讨如何利用临床资料,尤其是实验室检查结果（B超、血HCG变化等）对外伤性流产的认定及损伤程度的判定等问题.方法 根据流产的原因、分类及妊娠生理变化等临床特点,结合案情特点、临床表现、既往史、实验室检验及辅助检查结果等进行因果关系分析.结果 本组5例案件中4例为早期流产,1例为晚期流产,3例均因胚胎发育异常否认外伤性流产,1例因人为因素自行药物流产难以认定外伤性流产,1例认定为外伤性流产.结论 外伤史明确的前提下,外伤性流产的认定可首先依据实验室检查结果分析胚胎（或胎儿）发育情况,若胚胎存在异常,一般可直接排除外伤性流产,如胚胎发育正常,可再根据其他临床资料进行分析评定.