David C. Reardon

David C. Reardon is a medical ethicist and author of several books on abortion, including Aborted Women, Silent No More and Making Abortion Rare: A Healing Strategy for a Divided Nation. He argues that medical studies have shown that abortion causes physical and psychological harms among many of the millions of women who have undergone the procedure. Potential side effects and risks of abortion include infections, infertility, and severe emotional distress. Public health policy toward abortion must be reevaluated in light of these risks, he concludes.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What assumptions about the safety of abortion have guided national abortion policy, according to Reardon?
2. What are some of the physical and psychological complications of abortion, according to the author?
3. In Reardon’s opinion, why do many women choose...