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1 November 2015 The Affordable Care Act and Abortion
Deborah R. McFarlane
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

The 2010 Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) treats abortion differently than any other health service, precluding public funding for abortion and imposing other restrictions on American states. To determine whether the ACA's abortion restrictions are uniquely American or have counterparts in other national health systems, this study employs a cross-sectional design comparing abortion restrictions in the ACA with those in 17 Western European countries. Using a six-item scale, the intensity of abortion restrictions is compared across Western European nations. A similar scale is employed for a five-state sample of state-level abortion restrictions. Although the United States is not alone in having abortion restrictions, how abortion is proscribed in the ACA has no counterpart in Western Europe. Unlike many Western European countries, the ACA's restrictions focus on abortion funding, not the length of gestation or the health of the pregnant woman.

Deborah R. McFarlane "The Affordable Care Act and Abortion," Politics and the Life Sciences 34(2), 52-70, (1 November 2015). https://doi.org/10.1017/pls.2015.12
Published: 1 November 2015
JOURNAL ARTICLE
19 PAGES

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KEYWORDS
Abortion
Affordable Care Act
comparative health policy
European Union
health policy
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