Attitudes of Married Women Towards Induced Abortion in Manisa

Abstract

Introduction:This study was aimed at revealing attitudes of married women towards induced abortion.Methods:This study was descriptive and the study population included 64.382 married women aged 15-49 years in the city of Manisa. Three hundred and eighty-three women were selected from 11 “family health care centers” by proportional stratified sampling. The data were collected using “Socio-demographic Information Form”, “Attitude Inventory of Induced Abortion” and “Knowledge of Induced Abortion Form”.Results:The participants had the highest rates of agreement with the items “induced abortion is a sin” and “induced abortion is a murder”. Multivariate analyses showed that women at an older age, women with higher education, women having a nuclear family, women with fewer living children, women with a previous induced abortion, women using a modern family planning method, women defining themselves as nullifidians or who did not fulfil religious rituals, and women having higher scores for knowledge of induced abortion had a more positive attitude towards induced abortion.Conclusion:The results of the study showed that the attitudes of women towards induced abortion were affected by religion, but that they had the enough flexibility to have a positive attitude when a medical or social necessity arose.

Keywords

• Abortion
• medical abortion
• women