Women's Health Issues
Volume 20, Issue 2 , Pages 92-95 , March 2010

Mental Health Outcomes of Abortion and Its Alternatives: Implications for Future Policy

  • Sara Levine Kornfield, MS

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Ms. Sara Levine Kornfield, Drexel University, Department of Psychology, 245 North 15th Street, Mail Stop 515, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
  • ,
  • Pamela A. Geller, PhD

Received 4 August 2009 ,Revised 5 December 2009 ,Accepted 10 December 2009.

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PII: S1049-3867(09)00159-5

doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2009.12.003

Women's Health Issues
Volume 20, Issue 2 , Pages 92-95 , March 2010