title: Public opinion on abortion in eight Mexican states amid opposition to legalization.
abstract: In opposition to Mexico City's legalization of first-trimester abortion, 17 Mexican states (53 percent) have introduced initiatives or reforms to ban abortion entirely, and other states have similar legislation pending. We conducted an opinion survey in eight states--four where constitutional amendments have already been approved and four with pending amendments. Using logistic regression analyses, we found that higher education, political party affiliation, and awareness of reforms/initiatives were significantly associated with support for the Mexico City law. Legal abortion was supported by a large proportion of respondents in cases of rape (45-70 percent), risk to a woman's life (55-71 percent), and risk to a woman's health (48-68 percent). A larger percentage of respondents favored the Mexico City law, which limits elective legal abortion to the first 12 weeks of gestation (32-54 percent), than elective abortion without regard to gestational limit (14-31 percent).
authors.affiliation: J Population Council-Mexico, Morelos No. 21, Colonia Del Carmen Coyoacán, Mexico City 04100, Mexico.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Valencia Rodríguez
authors.forename: Kate S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Díaz Olavarrieta
authors.forename: Sandra G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Sánchez Fuentes
mesh_terms: D000029:Abortion, Legal / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D022126:Access to Information; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D016656:Family Planning Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D011050:Policy Making; D011057:Politics; D011247:Pregnancy; D011639:Public Opinion; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D057545:Social Stigma; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016387:Women's Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence