Ohio survey data assessing perceptions of abortion safety

Juliana Madzia; Meghana Kudrimoti; Abigail Norris Turner; Danielle Bessett; Maria F Gallo

doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2021.11.008

Ohio survey data assessing perceptions of abortion safety

Contraception. 2022 Jun:110:86-92. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2021.11.008. Epub 2021 Dec 28.

Authors

Juliana Madzia¹, Meghana Kudrimoti², Abigail Norris Turner³, Danielle Bessett⁴, Maria F Gallo³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sociology, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH, United States. Electronic address: madziajl@mail.uc.edu.
² The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, United States.
³ Department of Epidemiology, The Ohio State University College of Public Health, Columbus, OH, United States.
⁴ Department of Sociology, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH, United States.

PMID: 34971612
DOI: 10.1016/j.contraception.2021.11.008

Abstract

Objective: Despite overwhelming data supporting the safety of abortion care in the U.S., public perceptions of abortion safety vary widely. While evidence suggests that the public overestimates abortion risk, few studies have analyzed why people think abortion is safe or unsafe.

Study design: Using data from the Ohio Survey of Women, a representative survey of women aged 18 to 44 years with a residential address in Ohio, we examined responses to 2 questions about abortion safety perceptions: the first asked respondents to rate abortion safety in Ohio, and the second asked respondents why they chose this rating of abortion safety. We analyzed these responses with inductive and deductive approaches.

Results: There were 2529 responses, of which 1368 (54%) provided a response to the open-ended question about abortion safety. From this subset, 529 gave open-ended responses indicating that they perceive abortion as safe, with 47% attributing this perception to the procedure being performed by a professional in a regulated environment. In contrast, 370 gave open-ended responses indicating that they perceive abortion as unsafe; the most common explanations referred to health risks (19%) and that safety depends on preexisting health conditions (19%).

Conclusion: Many participants perceived abortion as safe because it is performed by professionals in a clinical environment or because of personal experiences with abortion. Those perceiving a lack of safety provided more varied responses, including that abortion was dangerous due to a detrimental effect on mental health or protesters at abortion clinics.

Implications: We identified that women have a broad range of reasons for perceiving abortion as safe or unsafe. Providers should be aware of this diversity of abortion safety perceptions so that they can best engage with their patients.This updated characterization of pain experienced during an evidence-based medication abortion regimen may allow for better pain-related counseling, tailoring of opioid prescription practices, and improvement in patient satisfaction.

Keywords: Abortion; Abortion safety; Qualitative methods; Women's health.

MeSH terms

Abortion, Induced* / psychology
Female
Humans
Ohio
Pain
Patient Satisfaction
Pregnancy
Surveys and Questionnaires