Distressing life events and poverty behind many abortions in US

The disruptive events included job loss, separation, falling behind on rental/mortgage payments, death of a close friend, a serious health problem, a partner being sent to prison and becoming a victim of crime.

Poverty in the US is defined as an annual income before tax of $17,500 for a family of three: in 2008, 13% of US residents met this criterion.

The researchers also carried out in-depth interviews with 49 women seeking abortions to flesh out themes from the feedback data.

Their analysis showed that more than half (57%) of the women who had had an abortion had faced a major life stressor in the preceding year. One in 5 had lost their jobs; one in 6 had separated from their partner; one in 7 had fallen behind on their rental or mortgage payments, while one in 8 had moved several times.

One in 10 had experienced the death of a close friend or had had a baby over the past year. And 7% had been subjected to some form of domestic violence.

Women said that the fall-out from one disruptive event could set up a chain reaction. For example, one woman's grief following the death of her mother kept her from leaving an abusive partner.

A higher proportion of women living in poverty (63%) had experienced at least one such event over the previous year than had affluent women (49%).

One in four women who lived in poverty had lost their job compared with 14% of financially better off women. And a higher proportion of those who were poor had also separated from a partner, fallen into arrears with rental/mortgage payments, moved several times or had given birth.

About half of the women were using contraception in the month they became pregnant, but the in-depth interviews showed that nearly half of these women said that disruptive events interfered with contraceptive use.

The authors point out that women living in poverty made up 42% of the 1.2 million abortions carried out in 2008 in the US, up from 27% of the 1.31 million abortions performed in 2000.

More information: www.jfprhc.bmj.com… -2012-100311

Provided by British Medical Journal