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Effect of a new service on women’s abortion experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Susan Treloar ,
Emmi Snyder  and
Charles Kerr
Susan Treloar
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, University of Sydney
Emmi Snyder
Affiliation:
The Preterm Foundation, Sydney
Charles Kerr
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, University of Sydney
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Summary

New South Wales law on abortion was liberalized by judicial interpretation in 1971. This paper describes the characteristics of the first 1007 women attending a free-standing clinic for induced abortion after it opened in 1974. Compared with Census data for New South Wales females of child-bearing age, the sample contained an over-representation of women who were relatively younger at conception, never married, divorced or separated, born outside Australia, of Catholic religious background, and worked as nurses or in factories. In comparison with background information about abortion experience before 1971, the clinic sample appeared to feel less anxiety and distress during the abortion sequence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , October 1977 , pp. 417 - 427
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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