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Faculty Sponsor

J. Koji Lum

Abstract

Prior to the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, access to safe legal abortions was limited and often restricted along racial, economic, and geographic lines. Nearly fifty years later, women’s health policy evolved again following the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade. This court ruling decimated federal protections of abortion. This paper presents the research that the 2022 Dobbs judicial decision may contribute to and exacerbate rape-related PTSD on 1 out of 20 American who are unable to access a safe abortion after a rape-related pregnancy. Pregnant women living in conservative states that have outlawed abortions or placed extreme restrictions (i.e. in the case of rape or incest) now face the traumatic reality of being forced to carry a fetus to term. After finding the range of woman that may have a rape-related pregnancy in the United States, we analyzed statistics using PTSD criteria to calculate how many women may develop PTSD symptoms as a result of being compelled to give birth to a rape-related pregnancy following restricted access to abortion care (Dworkin et al., 2021; Kozaric-Kovacic et al., 1995; Lončar et al., 2006; Lundell et al.; Tinglöf et al.; Lissman et al., 2023). Using sources from 1996 - 2023, the estimated number of U.S. women that will have a rape-related pregnancy in their lifetime was calculated to be an average of 4.9% (D’Angelo et al., 2024; Lanthrop et al.; Basile et al., 2018).

Citation Style

APA

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