Evolving Abortion Law and Forensic Psychiatry

Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law

article

Susan Hatters Friedman¹  Jacqueline Landess²  Nina Ross¹  Aimee Kaempf³ 

[1] Case Western Reserve University;Medical College of Wisconsin;Department of Psychiatry, University of Arizona Medical Center

关键词: forensic psychiatry;    abortion;    pregnancy termination;    evaluations;   

DOI  :  10.29158/JAAPL.220076-22

学科分类：儿科学

来源: American Academy of Psychiatry The Law

【 摘 要 】

forensic psychiatryabortionpregnancy terminationevaluationsIn 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that prohibiting abortion violated a woman’s constitutional right to privacy.1 Nearly 50 years later, in 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.2 In this editorial, we discuss how changing abortion law affects psychiatrists who practice at the interface of mental health and the law by reviewing the implications in the pre-Roe, Roe, and Dobbs eras. We aim to demonstrate how abortion law status is highly relevant to both the clinical and evaluator roles of forensic psychiatrists. As access to safe, legal abortion becomes increasingly uncertain, psychiatrists will likely encounter women with unwanted pregnancies who are unable to procure termination. Psychiatrists will need to provide treatment to this population, including understanding the potential effects of medication in pregnancy as well as effects of untreated illness. Pregnant women may enquire about the mental health sequelae of obtaining an abortion versus carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term. Psychiatrists will need to assess suicide risk in the context of unwanted pregnancy and may be asked to provide psychiatric certification for abortion care. Psychiatrists working in correctional or forensic hospital settings will be increasingly faced with the challenges of caring for pregnant and postpartum women within institutional systems that are often ill-equipped to meet perinatal needs. As forensic evaluators, psychiatrists may continue to be consulted for a variety of civil and criminal matters pertaining to abortion care, including medical decision-making capacity assessments, Jane Doe evaluations, and questions relating to cases of alleged fetal harm.

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