About this Research Topic

Background

Abortion access remains a contentious political and social issue across the world, ranging from widespread availability to limited access to complete bans. The recent ruling by the US Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade has relegated the issue to individual states, creating a patchwork of rules throughout the country. In 2021 abortion access in Poland became significantly more restrictive. In India, gender determination of the fetus has been illegal since 1994 in an attempt to curb the practice of sex-selective abortion. On the other hand, abortion was encouraged, even forced, during China’s so-called one-child policy. Resource constraints remain a significant barrier as well. Lack of access to contraceptives in sub-Saharan Africa makes this region the leader in unsafe abortions with over three-quarters characterized as such. Even as legal and resource limitations restrict services in many areas, technological change in the form of medical abortions can overcome some barriers, although here too access is uneven. Disparities in access and maternal-child health outcomes make abortion an integral aspect of reproductive justice in both higher and lower-income countries with consequences for mental and physical health, education outcomes, marital outcomes, and population dynamics.

This Research Topic seeks to bring together perspectives from multiple disciplines regarding the evolving state of reproductive justice, including abortion access, reproductive health, and maternal mortality around the world. We hope to publish high-quality articles that describe the social, political, economic, and health factors that interact with changing political landscapes and economic developments in both higher and lower-income countries contributing to differences in reproductive health access. Findings published in this Research Topic will provide a broader context with which to analyze local changes in policy and access by comparing developments on women’s reproductive rights and access to reproductive health around the world and within countries. After decades of expanding access to safe abortions, how consequential are the recent notable reversals? What do these reversals signify in terms of prioritizing maternal-child health and what are the impacts on maternal mortality?

We invite quantitative and qualitative studies, as well as policy analyses, that describe trends and changes in reproductive rights, including abortion access, and examine the factors shaping these trends. We also welcome studies that assess the impacts of health policy, political change, economic development, and technological change. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:
• Expansion/restriction of reproductive rights and associated outcomes
• Examinations of maternal health in the context of reproductive justice
• Global or state comparisons on reproductive rights/trends/outcomes
• Impacts of reproductive restrictions on maternal mortality
• Disparities in access to contraceptives or abortion
• Trends in abortion services utilization
• Social trends in perspectives on abortion
• Abortion access in the context of reproductive justice
• Economic or political barriers to abortion access
• Technological change in the provision of abortion
• Abortion access and socioeconomic and health outcomes

Keywords: Reproductive Justice, Reproductive Rights, Abortion Access, Reproductive Health, Inequalities, Maternal Mortality

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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