Original ArticlesThe Prevalence of Domestic Violence Among Women Seeking Abortion
Section snippets
Methods
Approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine before initiation of the study. To preserve complete anonymity for respondents, written consent was not obtained. Because all participants were legally consenting adults, consent to participate was considered implied by completing the questionnaire. A cover letter accompanying the questionnaire explained the voluntary and anonymous nature of the study and stated that the purpose of the study was to
Results
The median age of women who returned questionnaires was 25 years. There were 226 (46.5%) white respondents, 223 (45.9%) blacks and 37 (0.08%) Asians, Hispanics, and others of unspecified ethnicity. Table 1 summarizes the demographic characteristics of the study population and results of the questionnaire comparing those with any abuse history and nonabused women.
Overall, 192 (39.5%) women identified themselves as having any history of abuse. Twenty-nine women identified as abused denied a
Discussion
Researchers in a number of studies have attempted to define the optimal method of screening for abuse during pregnancy. A 1991 study of an obstetric population by McFarlane et al8 determined that a personal interview incorporating four abuse assessment screening questions increased identification of abuse over voluntary reporting from 7.3% to 29.3%. A more recent study by Norton et al9 demonstrated that a personally administered structured five-question abuse assessment screening tool at the
References (18)
- et al.
Prevalence of domestic violence among women seeking abortion services
Womens Health Iss
(1996) - et al.
Battering in pregnancyAn assessment of two screening methods
Obstet Gynecol
(1995) - et al.
The influence of abuse on pregnancy intention
Womens Health Iss
(1995) - et al.
The relationship between pregnancy intendedness and physical violence in mothers of newborns
Obstet Gynecol
(1995) Physical violence during the 12 months preceding childbirth - Alaska, Maine, Oklahoma, West Virginia, 1990–1991
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep
(1994)Domestic violence. ACOG technical bulletin no. 209
(1995)Diagnostic and treatment guidelines on domestic violence
(1992)- et al.
Battered and pregnantA prevalence study
Am J Public Health
(1987) Physical abuse in pregnancy
Obstet Gynecol
(1985)
Cited by (147)
Reproductive Rights and Women's Mental Health: Essential Information for the Obstetrician-Gynecologist
2021, Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North AmericaUpdate on Reproductive Rights and Women's Mental Health
2019, Medical Clinics of North AmericaReproductive Rights and Women's Mental Health
2017, Psychiatric Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :Lay people and professionals may assume that pregnancy would be a protection from interpersonal violence; in fact, pregnancy does not diminish, and may even increase, the incidence of violence against women. There are strong links between domestic violence and abortion; abusers may coerce women into intercourse, refuse or forbid the use of contraception, and inherently make the domestic situation dangerous for mother and child.32–35 Mental health risks are the cited rationale for some restrictive laws regarding abortion.
Unintended pregnancy and intimate partner violence around pregnancy in a population-based study
2015, Women and BirthCitation Excerpt :In the present study, the women were asked about the intendedness of their recent pregnancy in the immediate postpartum period, when the mother may have a more positive perception of the desirability of the event,35 producing a possible underestimation of the number of unintended pregnancies. Moreover, we only considered pregnancies that ended in live births and may therefore have underestimated the strength of the association between unintended pregnancy and IPV, which has been associated with elective abortion in various studies.30,31 Finally, ISA data were missing for 4.3% of the data, although this would have had a minimum effect on our results.
Exposure to violence among women with unwanted pregnancies and the association with post-traumatic stress disorder, symptoms of anxiety and depression
2015, Sexual and Reproductive HealthcareCitation Excerpt :Violence against women is a serious health problem around the world. Exposure to violence is associated with induced abortion [1–3]. The World Health Organization's Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence reported that women with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) had significantly higher odds of unintended pregnancy in 8 of 14 sites and of induced abortion in 12 of 15 sites [4].
The role of intimate partners in women's reasons for seeking abortion
2014, Women's Health Issues