Abortion attitudes of pregnant women in prenatal care.
OBJECTIVE
This study was undertaken to describe abortion attitudes in a diverse cohort of pregnant women enrolled in prenatal care.


METHODS
A cross-sectional interview study of 1082 demographically diverse gravid women enrolled in prenatal care at less than 20 weeks' gestation was performed.


RESULTS
Most participants (92%) supported abortion availability. Half (50%) who were willing to consider an abortion would do so only in the first trimester. Among the gravid women willing to consider an abortion in the first or second trimester, 84% would do so after rape/incest or if their life was endangered and 76% would if their fetus had Down syndrome. Gravid women considering abortion were more likely to be white, older, have had a previous abortion, and to express distrust in the health care system. Women who would not consider abortion were more likely to be multiparous, married/living with partner, and to express greater faith and fatalism about their pregnancy outcome.


CONCLUSIONS
Although most pregnant women enrolled in prenatal care support abortion availability, about half would only consider a first-trimester procedure. These findings underscore the need for early prenatal genetic counseling, screening, and testing.
Learman
Lee A
LA
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
Drey
Eleanor A
EA
Gates
Elena A
EA
Kang
Mi-Suk
MS
Washington
A Eugene
AE
Kuppermann
Miriam
M
D000032:Abortion, Therapeutic / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002140:California; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care