Based on movies and TV, you might think women considering abortions face a lot of internal struggle before deciding to go through with it (or just decide not to, like Juno). According to a new study published in Contraception, however, this longstanding pop culture trope is not an accurate representation of reality.
University of California—San Francisco researchers surveyed 500 women during their initial visits to four family planning centers in Utah. They were asked to rank their agreement with 16 phrases that could describe their thoughts preceding an abortion procedure—things like, "I expect to stick to my decision" and "I know the risks and side effects of each option"—as well as four sentences describing their possible decisions: "I want to put the baby up for adoption instead of having an abortion," "I want to have the baby instead of having an abortion," "abortion is a better choice for me at this time than having a baby," and "I am sure of my decision to have an abortion."
The majority strongly agreed with almost all the statements expressing certainty about their decisions. The one exception was “this decision is easy for me to make,” which only 34 percent strongly agreed with. Despite anti-abortion stereotypes that women who get abortions make their choice cavalierly, these numbers show that women put a lot of thought and are into their decision. The participants were especially confident that they knew their options and expected to stick with their decisions. Those who expressed uncertainty were more likely to believe myths about abortion, like “abortion causes breast cancer.”
Overall, the certainty the participants expressed was at least as high as the certainty people express for other medical procedures. In fact, people tend to be less certain when deciding whether to get reconstructive knee surgery or go ahead with a prostate cancer treatment.
Three weeks later, the researchers followed up with two-thirds of the women and asked if they had gotten abortions. 89 percent had, and unsurprisingly, women who were more certain were more likely to go through with the procedure. But even four out of five women who felt the decision was difficult still got abortions. This suggests that women understand that getting an abortion can be the right choice even if it's not easy, and they don't go back on it.
This contradicts the stated reasoning behind many government policies that require women to jump through logistical hoops to get abortion care. "Our findings challenge these laws' implicit characterization of women making abortion decisions—as compared to other healthcare decisions—as particularly conflicted," the researchers concluded.
Currently, 35 states require counseling, 27 have specified waiting times, 25 require ultrasounds, 12 require that women be told their fetus can feel pain, and six require they're told personhood begins at conception.
“Our research directly contradicts the idea that women are particularly conflicted about whether or not to have an abortion," lead author Lauren J. Ralph, Ph.D., said in a press release. "These findings challenge the argument that women need more time or information to make their decision and would universally benefit from laws requiring them to have additional counseling visits, wait up to 72 hours before receiving care, or view ultrasounds."
Source: http://www.glamour.com/story/this-is-how-women-really-feel-about-their-abortions
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