Unilateral divorce laws affect women's welfare.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ciacci R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10599560 | biostudies-literature | 2023
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Unilateral divorce laws affect women's welfare.
Ciacci Riccardo R Martín Rodrigo María José MJ Núñez Partido Antonio A
PloS one 20231025 10
This paper studies whether unilateral divorce affects women's welfare. Unilateral divorce refers to a divorce regime where each of the spouses can dissolve the marriage unilaterally (i.e. without mutual consent). First, it builds a simple theoretical model that finds that women are better off under unilateral divorce than under mutual consent. Second, it makes use of data from the U.S. between 2003 and 2014 to explore empirically whether unilateral divorce affects the amount of time women devote ...[more]
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Project description:ImportanceBarriers to divorce and reproductive health care can threaten the health and safety of pregnant and recently pregnant females.ObjectiveTo examine state laws about divorce, reproductive health care (access to contraception, family planning services, and abortion), and pregnancy-associated homicide rates in US states over a 4-year period (2018-2021).Design, setting, and participantsIn this cross-sectional study, bivariate tests and regressions were used to analyze crude rates of pregnancy-associated homicide from the National Violent Death Reporting System in 181 state-years for calendar years 2018 to 2021, with analyses conducted on September 8, 2024.ExposuresAccess to divorce while pregnant and reproductive health care over a 4-year period in the US.Main outcomes and measuresPrimary outcomes (pregnancy-associated homicide by intimate partners vs non-intimate partners and rates among younger Black, Hispanic, and White females) were assessed using the National Violent Death Reporting System. Negative binomial regression was used to test 2 hypotheses: access to divorce while pregnant and reproductive health care are associated with pregnancy-associated homicide rates.ResultsIndividual level data, including exact sample size, were not available in this study of state-level homicide rates. Negative binomial regression analysis showed that, where finalizing divorce during pregnancy is prohibited, intimate partner homicide rates (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 2.11; 95% CI, 1.09-4.08; P = .03) and rates among younger (age 10-24 years) White females (IRR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.12-5.09; P = .02) were significantly higher. In state-years with greater access to reproductive health care, rates were significantly lower for non-intimate partner homicide (IRR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.87-0.98; P = .01) and for younger Black females (IRR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.87-0.96; P < .001) and younger Hispanic females (IRR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.79-0.96; P = .007).Conclusions and relevanceIn this cross-sectional study of pregnancy-associated homicide rates, barriers to divorce were associated with higher homicide rates and access to reproductive health care was associated with lower homicide rates. This study highlights the association between state legislation and pregnancy-associated homicide in the US, which is important information for policymakers.
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Project description:Abortion is regulated in Mexico at the state level, and it is permitted under certain criteria in all 32 states, except in Mexico City where first-trimester abortion is decriminalized. Yet, more than a million abortions occur in Mexico each year. But most terminations occurring outside of Mexico City are clandestine and unsafe due to profound stigma against the procedure, lack of trained providers, lack of knowledge of where to find a safe abortion and poor knowledge of the laws. While this situation is moderated by the increasing use of misoprostol, a relatively safe method of abortion, the safety of the procedure cannot be assured in restrictive legal contexts. The purpose of this study is to explore women's experiences with induced abortion in three federal entities with different legal contexts, and whether abortion seeking behavior and experiences differ across these settings. The study was carried out in three states, representing three different degrees of restrictiveness of abortion legislation. Queretaro with the "most restrictive" law, Tabasco with a "moderately restrictive" law, and Mexico state with the "least restrictive" law. We hypothesize that women living in more restrictive states will resort to the use of more unsafe and risky methods and providers for their abortion than their counterparts in less restrictive states. Women who recently obtained abortions were selected through snowball sampling and qualitative data were collected from them using semi-structured indepth interviews. Data collection took place between mid-2014 and mid-2015, with a final sample size N = 60 (20 from each state). Various themes involved in the process of abortion seeking behavior were developed from the IDIs and examined here: women's knowledge of the abortion law in their state, reasons for having an abortion; the methods and providers used and women's positive and negative experiences with abortion methods and providers used. Our results indicate that abortion safety is not associated with the restrictiveness of abortion legislation. Findings show that there is a new pattern of abortion service provision in Mexico, with misoprostol, a relatively safe and easy to use method, playing an important role. Nevertheless, while access to misoprostol tends to increase the safety of abortion, the improvement is moderated by women and their informants (relatives, friends and partners) not having accurate information on how to safely self-induce an abortion with misoprostol. On the other hand, some women manage to have safe abortion in illegal setting by going to Mexico City or with the support of NGOs knowlegeable on abortion. Findings demonstrate the importance of decriminalization of abortion, but meanwhile, harm reduction strategies, including promotion of accurate information about self-use of misoprostol where abortion is legally restricted will result in safe abortion.
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