Chicago Tribune - the Real Abortion Issue: Safety
Headlines on the abortion rights battle continue to feature lawsuits, political and ideological declarations and legislative hand grenades. The recent events in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Texas Legislature aimed at restricting abortions are just the latest example. Between these legal and political forays is a media wasteland that ought to be occupied by public health experts and health care professionals.
More than 40 years ago, I was one of 100 professors of obstetrics and gynecology who viewed termination of pregnancy as a public health issue. We signed a statement alerting our colleagues to prepare immediately for the effects of legalization of abortion, which we could see on the horizon. And in fact Roe v. Wade was decided just one year later.
“For the first time, doctors will be expected to do an operation simply because a patient asks that it be done,” we wrote in the April 1, 1972, issue of American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “The best estimate for the first year (of legalized abortion) is 1 million, which amounts to one for every four births.”