SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PREGNANT ABORTION-MINDED CLIENTS VERSUS PREGNANT NON-ABORTION-MINDED CLIENTS AT A PREGNANCY CRISIS CENTER

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare the socio-demographic characteristics of pregnant abortion-minded women to those of pregnant non-abortion-minded women who had consulted a pregnancy crisis center in Montgomery County, Ohio. The fi ndings will be used to help develop public health prevention programs for unintended pregnancies to decrease the number of abortions. Methods A database sample of 581 records collected by a pregnancy crisis center in Montgomery County was used for this study. Criteria for inclusion were women who tested positive for pregnancy and whose pregnancy intentions were assessed as being either abortionminded 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 fi rst 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 an income level under $10,000 (p value = < 0.0001), younger women (mean age 22.6 years, p value = 0.0008), women who had their first sexual encounter at a younger age (mean age 15.6 years, p value= 0.0009), and women who had a higher number of previous abortions (mean number of abortions =0.3, p value = <0.0001). Conclusions The study of socio-demographic characteristics and information about sexual behavior is very valuable in designing public health strategies to prevent unwanted pregnancies in populations with specifi c vulnerability. More research is needed to determine why the socio-demographic characteristics identifi ed here affect pregnancy intentions in susceptible populations.