Comparison of women seeking early and late abortion.
The differential characteristics of 697 women desiring induced abortion were studied according to when in pregnancy they presented. Age, marriage, and level of formal education were inversely related, those with greatest delay tending to be young, unmarried, and minimally educated. Religion was relevant, but generally was not. Nulliparity was only a weak correlate of delay. Contributory factors of denial, ambivalence, fear, and preceding menstrual irregularity accounted for two thirds of cases; they were uniformly distributed over the range of gestational age, but constituted the greatest proportion of reasons among those delaying decision longest. Physician delay and laboratory error accounted for all but one tenth of the remainder; they were concentrated particularly among gravidas presenting for care in the early part of the midtrimester. Fear characterized the young, poorly informed noncontraceptors, and had the greatest relative impact in protracted delays; denial was more likely to be found among older and ostensibly better informed women.
D000023:Abortion Applicants; D000028:Abortion, Induced; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000367:Age Factors; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002835:Christianity; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews; D008393:Marriage; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D013997:Time Factors; D044465:White People