TY - JOUR
T1 - The influence of abortion law on the frequency of pregnancy terminations—a retrospective comparative study
AU - Zaręba, Kornelia
AU - Wójtowicz, Stanisław
AU - Banasiewicz, Jolanta
AU - Herman, Krzysztof
AU - Jakiel, Grzegorz
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Abortion law is one of the main factors influencing the number of abortions performed in a country. The study aimed to assess the influence of abortion law on the number of performed terminations with particular attention paid to pregnancy terminations due to fetal defects. The retrospective comparative analysis of statistical data included on the governmental websites of Poland and the UK was performed. The average of 190,733.1 terminations were performed in the United Kingdom in the years 2009–2018 with the average of 2820.9 due to fetal defects. At the same time the average of 858.6 terminations were performed in Poland with 820.7 due to fetal defects. Population size is the only significant predictor of the number of terminations in the United Kingdom. The increase in the number of deliveries and population in Poland was not linked to the increase in the overall number of terminations or terminations due to fetal defects. It might be due to the unavailability of pregnancy terminations in many places. The radicalization of abortion law exerts no influence on the decrease in the number of terminations due to fetal indications. The liberalization of abortion law promotes the increase in the number of terminations due to social indications.
AB - Abortion law is one of the main factors influencing the number of abortions performed in a country. The study aimed to assess the influence of abortion law on the number of performed terminations with particular attention paid to pregnancy terminations due to fetal defects. The retrospective comparative analysis of statistical data included on the governmental websites of Poland and the UK was performed. The average of 190,733.1 terminations were performed in the United Kingdom in the years 2009–2018 with the average of 2820.9 due to fetal defects. At the same time the average of 858.6 terminations were performed in Poland with 820.7 due to fetal defects. Population size is the only significant predictor of the number of terminations in the United Kingdom. The increase in the number of deliveries and population in Poland was not linked to the increase in the overall number of terminations or terminations due to fetal defects. It might be due to the unavailability of pregnancy terminations in many places. The radicalization of abortion law exerts no influence on the decrease in the number of terminations due to fetal indications. The liberalization of abortion law promotes the increase in the number of terminations due to social indications.
KW - Abortion
KW - Abortion law
KW - Pregnancy termination
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U2 - 10.3390/ijerph18084099
DO - 10.3390/ijerph18084099
M3 - Article
C2 - 33924551
AN - SCOPUS:85103974809
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 18
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 8
M1 - 4099
ER -
