Anxieties and attitudes towards abortion in women presenting for medical and surgical abortions.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the differences in anxiety levels and attitudes towards abortion between women having an early medical abortion and women having a surgical (manual vacuum aspiration) abortion.

METHODS

Women who presented for an early medical abortion or a surgical abortion at an urban, free-standing abortion clinic were invited to participate in this study. Fifty-nine women having a medical abortion and 43 women having a surgical abortion answered questionnaires before their scheduled abortion, and again 2 to 4 weeks after the abortion. Thirty women were interviewed about their answers.

RESULTS

Anxiety levels were similar in both groups before the abortion procedure. Anti-choice views about abortion were seen in 60.5% of women having a medical abortion and in 37.3% of women having a surgical abortion (P = .027). Women who were pro-choice had a mean anxiety score of 5.0 (range, 0-10) before and 2.7 after the abortion, whereas women who were anti-choice had a mean anxiety score of 5.2 before and 4.4 after the abortion (P = .005).

CONCLUSION

It is important for providers of abortion care to understand that women undergoing a medical abortion may be more ambivalent about abortion than women undergoing a surgical abortion, and women who are anti-choice but having an abortion may have unresolved anxiety after the procedure.