The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having—or Being Denied—an Abortion

Foster, a demographer and reproductive sciences professor at UC San Francisco, presents the findings from her decade-long study into the psychological and health affects of having an abortion in this illuminating, data-centric debut. Based on twice-yearly phone interviews with 1,000 women recruited from 30 abortion clinics in 21 states, Foster and her research team found that “women who received an abortion were either the same, or, more frequently, better off than women who were denied an abortion.” Foster scrutinizes several factors in these women’s lives, including their access to contraception, employment record, education level, financial situation, physical health, relationship status, and the well-being of children born either before or after they sought the abortion. She ends each chapter with in-depth first-person testimonials from women in the study, detailing their experiences of either ending an unwanted pregnancy or carrying it to term. Packed with informative charts and graphs, detailed discussions of state laws restricting abortion access, and thorough demographic analysis, Foster’s clearheaded account cuts through the noise surrounding this contentious issue. Policy makers and abortion rights activists should consider it a must-read. Agent: Gail Ross, the Ross Yoon Agency. (June)