Perceived Access to Abortion Among Women in the United States in 2018: Variation by State Abortion Policy Context

Abstract

Objectives. To describe perceptions of access to abortion among women of reproductive age and their associations with state abortion policy contexts. Methods. We used data from the 2018 Survey of Family Planning and Women’s Lives, a probability-based sample of 2115 adult women aged 18 to 44 years in US households. Results. We found that 27.6% of women (95% confidence interval [CI] = 23.3%, 32.7%) believed that access to medical abortion was difficult and 30.1% of women (95% CI = 25.6%, 35.1%) believed that access to surgical abortion was difficult. Adjusted for covariates, women were significantly more likely to perceive access to both surgical and medical abortions as difficult when they lived in states with 4 or more restrictive abortion policies compared with states with fewer restrictions (surgical adjusted odds ratio [AORsurgical] = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.15, 2.21; AORmedical = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.95). Specific restrictive abortion policies (e.g., public funding restrictions, mandatory counseling or waiting periods, and targeted regulation of abortion providers) were also associated with greater perceived difficulty accessing both surgical and medical abortions. Conclusions. State policies restricting abortion access are associated with perceptions of reduced access to both medical and surgical abortions among women of reproductive age.

Quality of top webpages providing abortion pill information for Google searches in the USA: An evidence-based webpage quality assessment

“…However, past research has demonstrated that search results and access to information are not equivalent for people in different areas of the US [ 11 ]. Prior findings highlight that while search results hindering abortion access are a concern across the US, people who face more barriers to abortion access likely also face additional barriers to finding reliable information online [ 3 ]. This is of greater concern when considering that users who face barriers to accessing in-person healthcare services are more likely to turn to the internet for health information than people who do not face the same barriers [ 53 ].…”

“…2 Page was excluded from quality assessment as the only educational/information content it contained was within a video. 3 Page was excluded from analysis as it was a news article, not providing educational/information content. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240664.t002 Health education page 0 (-) 0 (-) 0 (-) 4 (36.4%) 4 (19.0%) 1 Page rank out of pages presenting educational/information content to users, excluding pages on YouTube and news articles, and pages presenting a sub-page of a page already assessed.…”

“…For these women, abortion care access is severely restricted by cutbacks in services, legal restrictions that inhibit access, abortion stigma, and fear of potential legal repercussions if a pregnancy were to be terminated [ 1 ]. It has also been found that in more restrictive states, simulated patient callers (representing abortion seekers) are less likely to receive a referral to an abortion provider and that women are more likely to perceive abortion access as difficult [ 2 , 3 ]. Additionally, research has shown that women who have to travel long distances to get abortion care may face notable information-related barriers to access [ 4 ].…”

Social Development and Abortion Policies in the United States: State-Wise Variations

“…Social development promotes women's empowerment, gender equality, health, and women's rights (Bulatao & Ross, 2003;DeJong, 2006;DeJong, Bahubaishi, & Attal, 2012;McGuire, 2010;Shen & Williamson, 1999). In this regard, abortion rights, which is a significant aspect of woman's right (Center for Reproductive Rights, 2011;Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 2000;Wild & Kunst, 1995), is of high importance as it is one of the most contested political issues in the recent times (Norrander & Wilcox, 2001;Perreira, Johnston, Shartzer, & Yin, 2020). Lack of literature on the impact of social development factors on abortion rights is a significant limitation in the theoretical conceptualization of abortion rights.…”