Towards a better understanding of abortion misinformation in the USA: a review of the literature

Patev, Alison J.; Hood, Kristina B.

doi:10.1080/13691058.2019.1706001

Cited by 30 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…People may not disclose their abortions, making it difficult for prospective patients to seek friends’ or family’s advice (Cowan 2014). Abortion opponents spread misinformation (Bryant and Levi 2012; Patev and Hood 2020), and legal battles create uncertainty about the status of abortion services and clinics (Gallo et al 2021; McGowan, Norris, and Bessett 2020). Media narratives commonly characterize abortion clinics as lonely, impersonal, and unsafe—what Kimport, Cockrill, and Weitz (2012:204) describe as the “social myth” of the abortion clinic.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Selecting an Abortion Clinic: The Role of Social Myths and Risk Perception in Seeking Abortion Care

et al. 2021

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Recent shifts in the abortion provision landscape have generated increased concern about how people find abortion care as regulations make abortion less accessible and clinics close. Few studies examine the reasons that people select particular facilities in such constrained contexts. Drawing from interviews with 41 Ohio residents, we find that people’s clinic selections are influenced by the risks they associate with abortion care. Participants’ strategies for selecting an abortion clinic included: drawing on previous experience with clinics, consulting others online, discerning reputation through name recognition and clinic type, and considering location, especially perceptions about place (privacy, legality, safety). We argue that social myths inform the risks people anticipate when seeking health care facilities, shaping care seeking in ways that are both abortion-specific and more general. These findings can also inform research in other health care contexts where patients increasingly find their options constrained by rising costs, consolidation, and facility closure.

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confidence: 99%

Selecting an Abortion Clinic: The Role of Social Myths and Risk Perception in Seeking Abortion Care

et al. 2021

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“…This potential is due to the unique ways in which people engage with stories. Given that cultural conversations about abortion are often politically polarized and frequently reliant on misinformation, 11 individuals have the tendency to either seek out information that affirms their prior beliefs, 21 or, because of stigma, avoid the topic of abortion altogether. 22,23 Yet, people process information from stories differently than didactic, nonnarrative, information.…”

Section: Entertainment-education and Abortionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This gap is important to address because abortion policy remains one of the most controversial and polarizing areas of public policy. 11 Beyond directly contributing to an understudied area within entertainment-education, the current inquiry adds to extant research in two important ways. First, most empirical evidence for the power of entertainment-education are retrieved from controlled experiments that use convenience samples that do not necessarily represent the actual viewership of a particular show, 12 cross-sectional surveys that draw on representative samples but rely heavily on correlational data, 13 or pre-experimental designs that assess change without a suitable control condition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prime‐time abortion on Grey's Anatomy: What do US viewers learn from fictional portrayals of abortion on television?

Sisson

Walter

Herold

et al. 2021

Perspect Sexual Reproductive

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CONTEXT: Entertainment television can impact viewers' knowledge, attitudes, and reproductive health behaviors, yet little research has examined the impact of scripted abortion plotlines on viewers' abortion knowledge or social supportiveness for those having abortions. We examined the impact of an abortion storyline from Grey's Anatomy on US-based viewers. METHOD:We conducted an online survey of likely Grey's Anatomy viewers prior to the episode's airing, assessing abortion ideology, knowledge, and support. After airing, we resurveyed respondents (including both those who had and had not viewed the target episode). We tested three hypotheses: episode exposure would (1) improve abortion knowledge and (2) increase support for medication abortion and decrease support for self-induced abortion, and (3) the effects on knowledge and supportive intention would be moderated by state support for abortion. We used independent samples t tests to examine hypotheses 1 and 2 and PROCESS macro to test the moderated effects (hypothesis 3). RESULTS:The results of the pretest/posttest analysis indicated that exposure to the episode significantly improved medication abortion knowledge. Increases in medication abortion knowledge were tied to explicit educational dialogue and did not translate into an increase in general abortion knowledge or social supportiveness.Notably, abortion-related state policy significantly moderated the influence of exposure for respondents in states with policies favorable to abortion access.CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that entertainment television can contribute to meaningful increases in viewers' knowledge about abortion, but that the potential for impact of entertainment-education is closely linked to episode content and moderated by state-level abortion policy.

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“…The majority of people who have abortions are non-white and lower income ( Jerman et al, 2016 ), therefore increasing restrictions disproportionately burdens people with fewer resources. Although information about abortion is available online, misinformation is prolific ( Patev & Hood, 2021 ). As a stigmatized event ( Cowan, 2017 ; Kumar et al, 2009 ; Norris et al, 2011 ), some people may prefer to seek information about abortions from healthcare providers, rather than family or friends.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Willing but unable: Physicians' referral knowledge as barriers to abortion care

Anderson

Cowan

Higgins

et al. 2022

SSM - Population Health

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Abortion care is a crucial part of reproductive healthcare. Nevertheless, its availability is constrained by numerous forces, including care referrals within the larger healthcare system. Using a unique study of physician faculty across multiple specialties, we examine the factors associated with doctors' ability to refer patients for abortion care among those who were willing to consult in the care of a patient seeking an abortion ( N = 674). Even though they were willing to refer a patient for an abortion, half (53%) of the physicians did not know how and whom to make those referrals, though they care for patients who may need them. Those with the least referral knowledge had not been taught abortion care during their medical training and were in earlier stages of their career than those who had more knowledge. This research exposes another obstacle for those seeking an abortion, a barrier that would be overcome with a clear and robust referral system within and across medical specialties.

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Towards a better understanding of abortion misinformation in the USA: a review of the literature

Cited by 30 publications

References 38 publications

Selecting an Abortion Clinic: The Role of Social Myths and Risk Perception in Seeking Abortion Care

Selecting an Abortion Clinic: The Role of Social Myths and Risk Perception in Seeking Abortion Care

Prime‐time abortion on Grey's Anatomy: What do US viewers learn from fictional portrayals of abortion on television?

Willing but unable: Physicians' referral knowledge as barriers to abortion care

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