Document Type

Master's Culminating Experience

Publication Date

2006

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare socio-demographic characteristics of pregnant abortion-minded women versus pregnant non-abortion minded women who had consulted a crisis pregnancy center in Montgomery County, Ohio. The findings will be used to help develop public health prevention programs for unintended pregnancies.

Methods: A database sample of 581 records collected by a crisis pregnancy center in t Montgomery County was used for this study. Criteria for inclusion were women obtaining a positive pregnancy test, whose pregnancy intentions were assessed as being either abortion-minded or non-abortion-minded. Socio-demographic characteristics such as age, marital status, household income, education, religious preference, race, number of previous pregnancies, number of previous live births, number of previous abortions, number of sexual partners, and age at their first sexual experience were compared to pregnancy intentions.

Results: In this study women who were more abortion-minded were single (p value = < 0.0001), black (p value = < 0.020), women with income level less than $10,000 (p value = < 0.0001), younger women (22.6 years, p value = 0.0008), women who had their first sexual encounter at a younger age (15.6 years, p value= 0.0009) and women who has a higher number of previous abortions (0.3, p value= <0.0001).

Conclusions: The study of socio-demographic factors and information about sexual behaviors is very valuable to designing public health strategies to prevent unwanted pregnancies focused on populations with specifics characteristics. More research is needed to determine why the socio-demographic characteristics identified affect pregnancy intentions in vulnerable populations.

Download


Share

COinS