Abortion in Puerto Rico: The limits of colonial legality

Reproductive Health Matters

Volumn 5, Issue 9, 1997, Pages 56-65

  Azize Vargas, Yamila ^a   Avilés, Luis A ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ABORTION; ARTICLE; GOVERNMENT; INDUCED ABORTION; LAW; POLICY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PUERTO RICO; UNITED STATES;

EID: 0030750371     PISSN: 09688080     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0968-8080(97)90006-9     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Ramirez de Arellano A and Seipp C, 1983. Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception: A History of Birth Control in Puerto Rico. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
2. Greenhalgh S, 1994. Anthropology theorises reproduction: integrating practice, political economic and feminist perspectives. Situating Fertility: Anthropology and Demographic Inquiry. S Greenhalgh (ed). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
3. Memi A, 1991. The Colonizer and the Colonized. Beacon Press, Boston.
4. Morgan LM, 1987. Dependency theory in the political economy of health: an anthropological critique. Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 1(2):131-51.
5. Marchand R, 1993. Trayectoria histórica del derecho en torno al aborto en Puerto Rico de 1879 hasta el presente. (Unpublished manuscript)
6. Lader L, 1973. Abortion II: Making the Revolution. Beacon Press, Boston.
7. The term 'colonial legality' was coined by Yamila Azize-Vargas and used first in a presentation of this research at 'Induced Abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean', Bogota, 1994.
8. [Acevedo] Montalvo v. [Hernández] Colón. 377 F. Supp. 1332. US Federal Court of San Juan, 1974.
9. El Mundo. 6 February 1973.
10. Pueblo v. Duarte [Mendoza]. 109 D.P.R. Tribunal Supremo de Puerto Rico, 17 April 1980. This was stated in a separate opinion on this abortion case ruling.
11. El Mundo. 9 February 1973.
12. Parrillla-Bonilla A, 1974. Neomaltusianismo en Puerto Rico. Editorial Juan XXIII, Río Piedras.
13. Mass B, 1976. Population Target: Political Economy of Population Control Programs in Latin America. Women's Press, Toronto.
14. Jacobson JL, 1990. The Global Politics of Abortion. Worldwatch Paper No 97. Worldwatch Institute, Washington DC.
15. Petchesky RP, 1990. Abortion and Woman's Choice: The State, Sexuality, and Reproductive Freedom. Northeastern University Press, Boston.
16. These were the Feminine Front of the Puerto Rican Independence Party in a presentation to the Civil Rights Commission, 8 December 1971, and Mujer Intégrate Ahora.
17. The numerator in the abortion ratio for Puerto Rico is the number projected in our study of all abortions performed in Puerto Rico among women 20-44 years old in 1991. The denominator is the number of live births in Puerto Rico, taken from the Cinta de Nacimientos de 1991 (Puerto Rico Department of Health), plus the projected number of abortions among women 20-44 years old.
18. Henshaw SK and Morrow E, 1990. Induced Abortion: A World Review. 1990 Supplement. Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York.
19. Monthly Vital Statistics Report. 43(11):25. US Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, 25 May 1995.
20. El Aborto Clandestino: Una Realidad Latinoamericana. Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York, 1994.
21. Azize Y, Avilés LA and Otero E, 1993. Abortion in Puerto Rico: Current Practice and Policy Recommendations. Women's Studies Project, Cayey University College, University of Puerto Rico. Cayey. This was the first abortion survey in Puerto Rico based on a nationwide, representative sample of women who had abortions.
22. Krieger N and Zierler S, 1996. What explains the public's health? - A call for epidemiological theory. Epidemiology. 7(1).
23. Duany J, 1990. De la periferia a la semi-periferia: La emigracion dominicana a Puerto Rico. Los Dominicanos en Puerto Rico: Migración en la Semi-Periferia. Duany J (ed). Ediciones Huracán, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
24. - Vázquez Calzada JL, 1988. La poblacion de Puerto Rico y su trayectoria histórica. Raga, Puerto Rico. - Dávila AL, 1990. Esterilización y practice anticonceptiva en Puerto Rico, 1982. Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal. 9(1):61-73.
25. - Vázquez Calzada JL, 1988. La poblacion de Puerto Rico y su trayectoria histórica. Raga, Puerto Rico. - Dávila AL, 1990. Esterilización y practice anticonceptiva en Puerto Rico, 1982. Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal. 9(1):61-73.
26. Herold JM, Warren CW, Smith JC et al, 1986. Contraceptive use and the need for family planning in Puerto Rico. Family Planning Perspectives. 16(4):185-92.
27. Sáez Santiago Y et al, 1993. El aborto, la mujer y las enmiendas propuestas a los artícules 91, 92 y 93 contenidos en el Código Penal del 21 de mayo de 1992. Master's thesis, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras.
28. Ramos OL. Personal communication, February 1993.
29. Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos, División de Estadisticas. Composición Industrial por Municipio, Puerto Rico Aqo Natural 1995. San Juan, 1996.
30. Becerra J, 1992. Loíza ARDE Study, Office of Perinatal Epidemiology, SAMPSF.
31. Varela R, Personal communication. December 1992.
32. Vouchers with a money value which can be used only for buying food.
33. Table 590. Statistical Abstract of the United States. US Department of Commerce, Washington DC, 1995.
34. Who will provide abortions? Recommendations from National Symposium, National Abortion Federation and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Santa Barbara, California, 25-26 October 1991.
35. Facing a Future Without Choice: A Report on Reproductive Liberty in America. National Commission on America Without Roe, National Abortion Rights Action League, Washington DC, 1992.
36. ACGME press release. 15 February 1995.
37. Duany J, 1990. Introducción. Los Dominicanos en Puerto Rico (as per [23]).
38. Arregui M, 1994. Una doctrina de papel? El incumplimiento por parte de las mujeres católicas de la doctrina sobre el control de nacimientos. Género y Sociedad. 1(3):1-44.
39. Catholics and Reproduction: A World View. An International Study of Catholic Opinion. Catholics for a Free Choice, Washington DC, 1993.
40. Joyce T, 1988. The social and economic correlates of pregnancy resolution among adolescents in New York City, by race and ethnicity: a multivariate analysis. American Journal of Public Health. 78(6):626-31. Figures are for under-16s through 19-year-olds, based on all births and abortions in New York City in 1984. However, New York City has especially high abortion ratios, even for a major city.
41. Number of pregnancies is estimated as number of legal abortions (Puerto Rico 1992 Abortion Data Set) plus number of live births (Informe Anual de Estadísticas Vitales: 1989. Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico, San Juan, 1991). Estimated number of live births in the Dominican Republic is from Informe Preliminar de Nacimientos: 1990. Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico, San Juan, 1992.
42. Number of pregnancies is estimated as number of legal abortions (Puerto Rico 1992 Abortion Data Set) plus number of live births (Informe Anual de Estadísticas Vitales: 1989. Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico, San Juan, 1991). Estimated number of live births in the Dominican Republic is from Informe Preliminar de Nacimientos: 1990. Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico, San Juan, 1992.
43. Chéverez NE, 1987. Conocimiento y actitudes hacia el aborto por demanda de un grupo de adolescentes puertorriqueños. Master's thesis, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus.
44. Informe Anual de Estadísticas Vitales - Puerto Rico, 1993. Departamento de Salud, Secretaria Auxiliar de Planificacion, Evaluación y Estadísticas. División de Estadisticas. Septiembre 1995.
45. Dixon-Mueller R, 1993. Population Policy and Women's Rights: Transforming Reproductive Choice. Praeger, Westport.
46. San Juan Star. 7 July 1989; El Mundo. 7 July 1989.
47. San Juan Star. 7 July 1989; El Mundo. 7 July 1989.
48. Albisa K, Porterfield R and Kovalik D, 1992. Memorandum: analysis of Puerto Rico's abortion clinic regulation. American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project, New York. 4 February.
49. San Juan Star. 6 August 1995.
50. Hoff J, 1991. Law, Gender, and Injustice: A Legal History of US Women. New York University Press, New York.
51. Azize Y, 1994. At the crossroads: colonialism and feminism in Puerto Rico. Women and Politics Worldwide. B Nelson and N Chowdhury (eds). Yale University Press, New Haven.