Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Nov;96(11):2009-15.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.064584. Epub 2006 Oct 3.

An exploration of the dimensions of pregnancy intentions among women choosing to terminate pregnancy or to initiate prenatal care in New Orleans, Louisiana

John S Santelli  1 , Ilene S Speizer, Alexis Avery, Carl Kendall
Affiliations

An exploration of the dimensions of pregnancy intentions among women choosing to terminate pregnancy or to initiate prenatal care in New Orleans, Louisiana

John S Santelli et al. Am J Public Health. 2006 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: We examined pregnancy decisionmaking among women seeking abortion or prenatal care.

Methods: Conventional measures of pregnancy intentions were compared with newer measures in 1017 women seeking abortion. A reduced sample of abortion patients (142 African American women from New Orleans) was compared with 464 similar women entering prenatal care.

Results: Virtually all abortion patients reported the pregnancy as unintended; two thirds of prenatal patients reported the pregnancy as unintended. Reasons for seeking abortion related to life circumstances, including cost, readiness, not wanting any more children, marital status, relationship stability, and being too young. Abortion patients were more likely to report trying hard to avoid a pregnancy and not being in a relationship. They were less likely to report that their partner wanted a baby (odds ratio=0.10) or that they wanted a baby with their partner (odds ratio=0.13) than prenatal patients.

Conclusions: Traditional measures of pregnancy intentions did not readily predict a woman's choice to continue or abort the pregnancy. Relationship with male partners, desire for a baby with the partner, and life circumstances were critical dimensions in pregnancy decisionmaking.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Most common reasons for abortion, full abortion clinic sample (N = 1017), 2002.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Henshaw SK. Unintended pregnancy in the United States. Fam Plann Perspect. 1998;30:24–29, 46. - PubMed
    1. Brown S, Eisenberg L, eds. The Best Intentions: Unintended Pregnancy and the Well-Being of Children and Families. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1995. - PubMed
    1. Kubicka L, Matejcek Z, David HP, Dytrych Z, Miller WB, Roth Z. Children from unwanted pregnancies in Prague, Czech Republic revisited at age thirty. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1995;91:361–369. - PubMed
    1. Myhrman A, Olsen P, Rantakallio P, Laara E. Does the wantedness of a pregnancy predict a child’s educational attainment? Fam Plann Perspect. 1995;27:116–119. - PubMed
    1. Daulaire N, Leidl P, Mackin L, Murpy C, Stark L. Promises to Keep: The Toll of Unintended Pregnancies on Women’s Lives in the Developing World. Washington, DC: Global Health Council; 2002.

Publication types

MeSH terms