Elsevier

Women's Health Issues

Volume 24, Issue 1, January–February 2014, Pages e131-e138
Women's Health Issues

Original article
The Role of Intimate Partners in Women's Reasons for Seeking Abortion

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2013.10.007Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

The literature on partners and abortion focuses on intimate partner violence (IPV) and risk for abortion, and partners' control of women's abortion decisions. This paper examines how partners figure in women's abortion decisions, and identifies factors associated with identifying partner as a reason (PAR) for abortion.

Methods

Baseline data were used from the Turnaway Study, a longitudinal study among women (n = 954) seeking abortion at 30 U.S. facilities between 2008 and 2010. Mixed methods were used. Data were analyzed using thematic coding and logistic regression.

Findings

Nearly one third of women reported PAR for abortion. Three most common partner-related reasons were poor relationships, partners unable/unwilling to support a baby, and partner characteristics that made them undesirable to have a baby with. Eight percent who mentioned PAR identified having abusive partners as a reason for abortion. One woman in this subgroup reported being pressured by her partner to seek abortion, whereas others in this subgroup sought abortion to end abusive relationships or to avoid bringing children into abusive relationships. Factors associated with identifying PAR for seeking abortion included race, education, partner's pregnancy intentions, relationship with man involved in the pregnancy, and experience of IPV.

Conclusion

Women make decisions to terminate pregnancies considering the quality of the relationship with and potential support they will receive from the man involved. Even women who report IPV, who may be vulnerable to coercion, report their motivation for the abortion is to end an abusive relationship, rather than coercion into abortion.

Section snippets

Study Setting and Procedures

This mixed methods study uses baseline data from the ongoing Turnaway Study, a prospective longitudinal study that aims to understand the effect of abortion on women's lives. Detailed information about study sites and recruitment procedures have been published elsewhere (Foster et al., 2013, Gould et al., 2012). Briefly, between January 2008 and December 2010, women were recruited from 30 U.S. abortion facilities where no facility nearby offered care at a later gestational age of pregnancy. At

Women's Description of Their Partner-Related Reasons for Abortion

Just under one third (31%) of the 954 women in the Turnaway Study gave partner-related reasons for seeking abortion. We found six distinct partner related themes. Most women citing PAR gave responses that fell under one theme; 22% articulated more than one of the six themes. The denominator of the percentages below is the total number of women mentioning a partner related reason (n = 298).

  • 1.

    No, poor, or new relationships with partner: Of the 298 women who identified PAR for seeking abortion, 31%

Discussion

This study focused on women's reports of their partner's influence in their abortion decision making. About one third of the sample identified partner-related reasons for seeking abortion. The three most commonly reported reasons were no, poor, or new relationships; partners who were unable/unwilling to support women in having a baby; and partner characteristics that made them undesirable to have a baby with. Factors associated with identifying PAR for seeking abortion included race, education,

Implications for Practice

Partners play a role in women's abortion decision making. Our study sample, however, shows no evidence that most women lack control in their abortion decision making. Instead, when deciding to get an abortion, women in our study seem to be reflecting more broadly on the complexities of their intimate relationships, and their lives, values, and vulnerabilities as a whole. Even some women in abusive relationships seem to seek abortion as a way of ending abusive relationships rather than being

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Rana Barar, Heather Gould, and Sandy Stonesifer for study coordination and management; Janine Carpenter, Undine Darney, Ivette Gomez, Selena Phipps, Claire Schreiber, and Danielle Sinkford for conducting interviews; Michaela Ferrari and Elisette Weiss for project support; Jay Fraser and John Neuhaus for statistical and database assistance; and all the participating providers for their assistance with recruitment.

This study was supported by research and institutional grants

Karuna S. Chibber, DrPH, is a public health social scientist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. Her research focuses on the intersection of intimate partner violence and women's health.

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  • Cited by (65)

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    Karuna S. Chibber, DrPH, is a public health social scientist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. Her research focuses on the intersection of intimate partner violence and women's health.

    M. Antonia Biggs, PhD, is a senior researcher at the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. Her research focuses on the evaluation of reproductive health programs, access to family planning services, abortion, and unintended pregnancy.

    Sarah C.M. Roberts, DrPH, is a public health social scientist at ANSIRH. She studies policy and social determinants of women's health, with a focus on alcohol and drug use in the context of pregnancy, parenting, and reproductive health.

    Diana Greene Foster, PhD, a demographer, is the principal investigator of the Turnaway Study, Director of Research at ANSIRH, and an associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at UCSF.

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