The social profile of women requesting abortion care in Flanders, Belgium

Ondertitel:an analysis of subsequent abortions and of abortion care during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abortion care is a complex and still widely debated topic, also in a context where it is legal and services are accessible for (many but not all) people in need of abortion care. The general aim of this Ph.D. is twofold: to contribute to the scientific knowledge about this complex topic and to gain more knowledge on abortion care in Flanders. More specifically, the focus is on subsequent abortions (i.e. when the same woman has more than one abortion), and on abortion care during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through analysing anonymised patient records from the Flemish abortion centres with discrete-time hazard models, we established that there does not exist one profile that describes all women who experience subsequent abortions. Although a vulnerable social position is associated with second and third abortions, this is not the case for the fourth, fifth, and so on abortions. Similarly, while women with a migration background are generally more likely to experience a second abortion, women with certain migration backgrounds have higher chances to experience a third, fourth, and so on abortion. This confirms that different situations and different social correlates can lead to different probabilities of experiencing a certain number of abortions. The impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to contain it was studied with bivariate linear and multinomial logistic regressions and via a qualitative, phenomenological study. We observed that although this situation put a strain on the abortion care services, the abortion centre’s staff was able to safeguard access to medically safe abortion care, and the profile of women requesting and receiving abortion care during the first COVID-19 lockdown did not change much compared to before the COVID-19 lockdown. The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to contain it also created the opportunity to explore the use of tele-medicine based solutions. In conclusion, this PhD presents valuable explorative research which contributes to our knowledge concerning (subsequent) abortions and abortion care in a pandemic, and which proposes starting points for more in-depth research and evaluations on a) how to create more accessible, inclusive and culture-sensitive abortion care regulations and services, and b) the determinants of abortions. We also hope that showing a more nuanced picture of women who request subsequent abortions helps to abolish the stigma concerning women who experience subsequent abortions.

ISBN:978-90-5728-729-9

Jaar van publicatie:2022

Trefwoorden:Doctoral thesis

Toegankelijkheid:Open