Delayed abortion in an area of easy accessibility
W. A. Burr and K. F. Schulz
Abortions performed late in pregnancy are associated with higher death and
complication rates, are more expensive, and are emotionally more taxing for
patients and staff than abortions performed early in pregnancy. To examine
potential correlates of late abortion, we studied 1,066 women having
abortions at two Washington, DC, abortion facilities. We found the
following variables to be statistically significantly related to the
gestational stage of pregnancy at the time a woman seeks an abortion:
history of irregular periods, level of education, type and number of
pregnancy symptoms volunteered, moral feelings of the women about abortion,
confided suspicion of pregnancy to another person, knowledge of the
legality of abortion, contraceptive use, pregnancy symptoms elicited by
professional personnel, and length of time the sexual partner was known.
Yet, these variables are responsible for only a small percentage of the
problem, since much variation in gestational age was unexplained by our
analysis. This result and the finding that most of the important
determinants of delay were individually oriented factors strongly imply
that the problem of late abortions is one that will not be greatly
influenced by public health interventions.
