Characteristics of women and pregnant people living in Malta to whom abortion packages were shipped through WoW, 2017–2021 (n=658)
| Reported characteristic | Total (n=658) % | Pre-COVID* (n=240) % | COVID†† (n=418) % |
| Age (years) | |||
| Under 20 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| 20–24 | 19 | 20 | 18 |
| 25–29 | 30 | 29 | 30 |
| 30–34 | 24 | 23 | 24 |
| 35–39 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| 40–44 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| 45 and over | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Number of children | |||
| 0 | 48 | 49 | 47 |
| 1 | 22 | 24 | 22 |
| 2 | 17 | 20 | 15 |
| 3 | 5 | 3 | 6† |
| ≥4 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| No data‡ | 7 | 4 | 8 |
| Weeks of gestation | |||
| Fewer than 7 weeks | 92 | 87 | 95 |
| Between 7 and 10 weeks | 8 | 13 | 5† |
| Circumstances of pregnancy | |||
| I did not use contraceptives | 63 | 63 | 63 |
| I wanted a pregnancy first, but situation changed | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| I was raped | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| The contraceptives I used did not work | 30 | 33 | 28 |
| Reasons for accessing abortion care§ | |||
| I just cannot have a child at this point in my life | 69 | 72 | 67 |
| I have no money to raise a child | 34 | 36 | 32 |
| I am too young | 17 | 17 | 16 |
| My family is complete | 14 | 16 | 14 |
| I want to finish school | 14 | 17 | 11 |
| I am too old | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| My partner does not want a child | 5 | 0 | 9† |
| I am ill | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| No data | 7 | 1 | 10 |
| Top reasons for accessing telemedicine¶ | |||
| It is hard for me to access abortion because of legal restrictions | 73 | 80 | 70 |
| I prefer to access abortion through WoW because abortion pills are not available in my country | 46 | 44 | 47 |
| I prefer to access abortion through WoW because I would rather keep my abortion private | 31 | 33 | 30 |
| I prefer to access abortion through WoW because I would be more comfortable at home | 25 | 27 | 24 |
| It is hard for me to access abortion because of cost | 21 | 22 | 20 |
| It is hard for me to access abortion because of distance | 20 | 19 | 21 |
| I prefer to access abortion through WoW because I would rather take care my own abortion | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| It is hard for me to access abortion because I need to keep my abortion a secret | 19 | 24 | 17 |
| I prefer to access abortion through WoW because I would rather have someone with me | 19 | 20 | 19 |
| Because of COVID-19** | 19 | 0 | 26† |
| It is hard for me to access abortion because of work or school commitments | 11 | 11 | 11 |
*January 2017–March 2020.
†P<0.001.
‡Answered YES to having children but missing data on number of children.
§Could choose more than one reason.
¶Available from 2018 onwards (n=580).
**From March 2020 onwards (n=418).
††April 2020–December 2021.
WoW, Women on Web.