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. 2015 Jan;105(1):41-48.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302358.

No Exceptions: Documenting the Abortion Experiences of US Peace Corps Volunteers

Angel M Foster  1 , Grady Arnott, Simone Parniak, Kathryn J LaRoche, James Trussell
Affiliations

No Exceptions: Documenting the Abortion Experiences of US Peace Corps Volunteers

Angel M Foster et al. Am J Public Health. 2015 Jan.

Abstract

Since 1979, US federal appropriations bills have prohibited the use of federal funds from covering abortion care for Peace Corps volunteers. There are no exceptions; unlike other groups that receive health care through US federal funding streams, including Medicaid recipients, federal employees, and women in federal prisons, abortion care is not covered for volunteers even in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest. We interviewed 433 returned Peace Corps volunteers to document opinions of, perceptions about, and experiences with obtaining abortion care. Our results regarding the abortion experiences of Peace Corps volunteers, especially those who were raped, bear witness to a profound inequity and show that the time has come to lift the "no exceptions" funding ban on abortion coverage.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Initial year of service of participants: documenting the abortion experiences of US Peace Corps Volunteers, June–August 2013. Note. Not all years are presented on the graph because participants did not initiate service in all years.
FIGURE 2—
FIGURE 2—
Countries of service (shaded): documenting the abortion experiences of US Peace Corps Volunteers, June–August 2013.
FIGURE 3—
FIGURE 3—
Participants’ reactions to the current ban on abortion coverage: documenting the abortion experiences of US Peace Corps Volunteers, June–August 2013. Note. The size of the word or phrase reflects the relative frequency of the word or phrase in the transcripts.
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References

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