Elsevier

Obstetrics & Gynecology

Volume 91, Issue 6, June 1998, Pages 1002-1006
Obstetrics & Gynecology

Original Articles
The Prevalence of Domestic Violence Among Women Seeking Abortion

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0029-7844(98)00089-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of self-reported abuse in a population of women aged 18 years or older seeking elective pregnancy termination, and to compare abused and nonabused women with respect to the primary reasons for pregnancy termination.

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was returned by 486 women seeking outpatient abortion. The survey included demographic information, abuse screening, and items regarding partner involvement/awareness of the pregnancy, and abuse as a determinant of the abortion decision. One open-ended item asking the primary reason for pregnancy termination was included.

Results: The prevalence of self-reported abuse in this population was 39.5%. White women were significantly more likely to report any history of abuse than nonwhite women. Relationship issues were the only reason for pregnancy termination given more often by women with an abuse history than by nonabused women. Women with abuse histories were significantly less likely than nonabused women to inform the partner of the pregnancy or to have partner support for or involvement in the abortion decision.

Conclusion: The prevalence of abuse reported by women in this population suggests that many women seeking abortion services may have abuse histories. Abused women may have different reasons for pregnancy termination than nonabused women and may be more likely to make the abortion decision without partner involvement. When routine screening for abuse is included in abortion counseling, health providers have the opportunity for developing a safety plan and initiating appropriate referral.

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)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (147)

  • Update on Reproductive Rights and Women's Mental Health

    2019, Medical Clinics of North America
  • Reproductive Rights and Women's Mental Health

    2017, Psychiatric Clinics of North America
    Citation 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 Birth
    Citation 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 Healthcare
    Citation 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].

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text