title: Anxieties and attitudes towards abortion in women presenting for medical and surgical abortions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the differences in anxiety levels and attitudes towards abortion between women having an early medical abortion and women having a surgical (manual vacuum aspiration) abortion.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women who presented for an early medical abortion or a surgical abortion at an urban, free-standing abortion clinic were invited to participate in this study. Fifty-nine women having a medical abortion and 43 women having a surgical abortion answered questionnaires before their scheduled abortion, and again 2 to 4 weeks after the abortion. Thirty women were interviewed about their answers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Anxiety levels were similar in both groups before the abortion procedure. Anti-choice views about abortion were seen in 60.5% of women having a medical abortion and in 37.3% of women having a surgical abortion (P = .027). Women who were pro-choice had a mean anxiety score of 5.0 (range, 0-10) before and 2.7 after the abortion, whereas women who were anti-choice had a mean anxiety score of 5.2 before and 4.4 after the abortion (P = .005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is important for providers of abortion care to understand that women undergoing a medical abortion may be more ambivalent about abortion than women undergoing a surgical abortion, and women who are anti-choice but having an abortion may have unresolved anxiety after the procedure.
authors.affiliation: University of British Columbia,Vancouver, BC.
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Wiebe
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Trouton
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Fielding
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Henderson
mesh_terms: D000019:Abortifacient Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D013513:Obstetric Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000019:Abortifacient Agents