Trajectories to abortion and abortion-related care: a conceptual framework

Abstract

This paper presents a conceptual framework which captures the macro-environmental and micro-level contexts and processes of a woman's pathway to terminating her pregnancy or seeking abortion-related care. The framework has global applicability, across legal contexts and safety spectra. It can be applied at all points in the reproductive lifespan and all marital statuses. The purpose of this framework is to identify and specify the most salient aspects of abortion decision-making across populations. Social scientists as well as policy and programme planners can use the framework to highlight aspects of the macro/micro environment that facilitate or hinder women's abilities to terminate unwanted pregnancies safely and in a timely manner.

The Change in Attitudes Towards Abortion in Former West and East Germany After Reunification: A Latent Class Analysis and Implications for Abortion Access

“…Stigma has been conceptualized as a driver of health outcomes at the population level and in the case of abortion, it is increasingly being recognized as a factor that negatively impacts on abortion service availability and womenʼs pathways to care [8, 13 -15]. Women perceptions of negative judgement from others, including abortion providers, can lead to feelings of shame and the need to maintain secrecy, influencing when and where women seek abortion care [15,16]. Health professionals have cited perceived negative community attitudes as well as their own objection to abortion as a reason for their reluctance to provide abortion services [8,17,18].…”

Determinants of Choice of Abortion Methods among Women in Ghana; Does Knowledge on legality of Abortion Matter?

“…The availability of abortion related services, programmes and policies and the impact of these interventions may be influenced by some individual, household, community, socio-cultural, political, economic and systemic factors. 13-16 Therefore, a vivid comprehension of abortion service provision and the choice of abortion methods (safe and unsafe) are paramount, especially in the context of negative perceptions and misconception surrounding abortion. Moreover, in recent times, there is high recognition of the extent to which the choice of an abortion method implicates the sexual and reproductive life of women and the health care system.…”

“…Also, some studies argue that in an environment where strict cultural systems, moral and religious laws and conventions prohibits abortion practices, knowledge on legality of abortion can be influenced by several factors at the individual, household, community, societal and national levels. 16 20 22 23 These factors include but not limited to age 43 , marital status 33 , ethnicity 44 , geographical location 45 and economic circumstances. 46 The interaction among these multidimensional factors does influence knowledge on legality of abortion and the decision-making process on the choice of abortion methods.…”

Labour Force Participation and the Likelihood of Abortion in Finland over Three Birth Cohorts

“…Moreover, strong motivation to avoid childbearing is associated with consistent contraceptive use (Frost, Singh, and Finer 2007;Moreau et al 2013), which in turn is negatively associated with likelihood of unintended pregnancy. Whether a woman decides to terminate an unintended pregnancy depends partly on her attitudes towards abortion and whether she sees the pregnancy being sustainable at that time (Coast et al 2014).…”