Therapeutic abortion: A prospective study. Part II

Meikle, Stewart; Brody, Harry; Gerritse, Richard; Maslany, George

doi:10.1016/0002-9378(73)90588-7

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…All or portions of the MMPI have been used extensively in gauging emotional reaction to pregnancy and abortion (Athanasiou et al, 1973;PerezReyes and Falk, 1973;Meikle et al, 1973;Brody et al, 1971). Clinical evaluations resulted in judgment of overall psychological change for each woman at two points in time: six weeks after the abortion procedure and one year after the procedure.…”

Section: Giving Future Orientation Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

Religious Involvement, Asceticism and Abortion among Low Income Black Women

Robbins

1980

Sociological Analysis

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This paper attempts to specify the importance of religious involvement and asceticism to reaction to out-of-wedlock pregnancy, the decision to aborta pregnancy, and response to the abortion experience within a sample of young, black women. The traditional view of black religion and recent empirical research suggest that the contribution of religious involvement to response to abortion should be unique among blacks. Results based on a sample oŸ young, unmarried, low income black women indicate that they cannot be said to be otherworldly nor nonascetic and that involvement in organized religion is related to greater unhappiness upon learning oŸ out-of-wedlock conception and greater regret one year afler induced abortion, but not the choice of abortion per se. It is suggested that those with a religious orientation may be more attuned to the moral dilemma posed by out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and consequendy experience a certain degree of ambivalence regardless of the means chosen to resolve it.The influence of religious involvement on attitudes toward abortion is clear. Verbal approval of abortion is generally shown to vary inversely with religious commitment, though the relationship appears to be decreasing (Arney and Trescher, 1976; McIntosh and Alston, 1977). Data on the importance of religious commitment to a woman's actual response to the abortion experience, however, are relatively scarce. Though early termination of pregnancy might be expected to involve deep-seated moral and ethical convictions, the few studies wherein researchers have considered the contribution of church involvement to a woman's reactions to abortion indicate that it is minimal (Martin, 1973;Adler, 1975). There are those, nonetheless, who maintain that religiously inclined women are particularly prone to experience difficulties adjusting to the procedure.The religious component of a woman's response to the experience per se remains unspecified. This paper deals with the influence ofchurch involvement and asceticism on the decision to abort and emotional reaction to abortion within a specific segment of the U.S. population: young, unmarried, low income, black women, pregnant for the first time.Most approaches to the influence of religiosity on reproductive behavior have focused predominantly on white Protestants. The few exceptions suggest that the importance of religious involvement on reproductive behavior of blacks is unique. Past research has taken one of two directions. First, the traditional views of black religion as otherworldly and nonascetic combined with the culture of poverty emphasis of lower class fatalism have led to explanations of sexual and reproductive behavior based on the theory of"hesitation to interfere with nature." More recently, however, empirical research has demon-

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Section: Giving Future Orientation Responsementioning

confidence: 99%