Title: Attitudes about abortion of women who undergo prenatal diagnosis.

POPLINE Document Number: 075630

Author(s):

Kolker A
Burke BM
Phillips JU

Source citation:

RESEARCH IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH CARE, 1991;9:49-73.

Abstract:

Data on 120 women who had experienced either amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and were attending clinics serving women in the Washington, D.C. area or in the San Diego, California area were analyzed to examine their attitudes toward abortion. In-depth, open-ended interviews were also conducted with 24 currently or recently pregnant women who had also undergone a prenatal diagnostic procedure. All the women wanted the pregnancy in question, and all were more wealthy and better educated than the average woman in the US. Yet women who underwent CVS were better educated (completed college, 89.1% vs. 57.2%) and were more affluent (mean household income, $56,000 vs. $46,000) than those who underwent amniocentesis. Women who had CVS encountered difficulties with obtaining access to CVS and, if it were not for their own initiative, they would have not been able to undergo CVS. This emphasized that, due to more economic, educational, or informational resources, they had greater access to prenatal care. It also verified earlier studies identifying a correlation between adoption of innovations and individual resources. 39.5% of CVS users had earlier elected to terminate a previous pregnancy compared with 22.4% of amniocentesis users. Most respondents supported women's freedom of choice to abort a pregnancy for reasons of endangerment to a mother's health (100% for general population, 98.1% for self), rape or incest (98.2% vs. 97.2%), fetal abnormality (99.1% vs. 100%), low income (86.7% vs. 61.2%), and desire to have no more children (81.3%-88.5% vs. 52.5%-74.5%). Yet few women (19.2% vs. 5.3%) approved of abortion based on sex of the fetus. Even though the respondents were committed to abortion rights, they tended to find it personally hard, if not impossible, to terminate a pregnancy now. They spent considerable emotional and financial resources toward the wanted pregnancy, but, by choosing to undergo prenatal diagnosis, were willing to face the possibility of losing the pregnancy.

Keywords:

United States
District of Columbia
California
Methodological Studies
Abortion
Comparative Studies
Interviews
Amniocentesis
Genetic Technics
Attitude
Congenital Abnormalities
Disabled Persons and Disabilities
Educational Status
Mothers
High Income Population
Program Accessibility
Sex Preselection
Pro-Choice Groups
Questionnaires
Socioeconomic Status
Women
North America
Americas
Developed Countries
Fertility Control, Postconception
Family Planning
Studies
Research Methodology
Data Collection
Laboratory Examinations and Diagnoses
Examinations and Diagnoses
Psychological Factors
Behavior
Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities
Diseases
Population Characteristics
Demographic Factors
Population
Socioeconomic Factors
Economic Factors
Parents
Family Relationships
Family Characteristics
Family and Household
Social Class
Program Evaluation
Programs
Organization and Administration
Reproductive Technologies
Reproduction
Interest Groups
Political Factors