Disseminating Evidence on Abortion Facilities to Health Departments: A Randomized Study of E-mail Strategies

Abortion terminology preferences: a cross-sectional survey of people accessing abortion care

BACKGROUND

Abortion stigma likely affects the terminology abortion patients, providers and the public use or avoid using to refer to abortion care. Knowing the terminology people seeking abortion prefer could help inform the language used in clinical interactions and improve patients' experiences with abortion care. However, research in the U.S. has not examined patients' preferences in this area or whether terminology preferences vary by participant characteristics, in the way that experiences of stigma vary across different contexts and communities. This study aims to describe preferred terminology among people presenting for abortion care and to explore the pregnancy-related characteristics associated with these preferences.

METHODS

We surveyed abortion patients about their experiences accessing abortion care, including preferred terms for the procedure. Respondents could mark more than one term, suggest their own term, or indicate no preference. We recruited people ages 15-45 seeking abortion from four U.S. abortion facilities located in three states (California, Illinois, and New Mexico) from January to June 2019. We used descriptive statistics and multivariable multinomial logistic regression to explore associations between respondents' pregnancy-related characteristics and their preferred terminology.

RESULTS

Among the 1092 people approached, 784 (77%) initiated the survey and 697 responded to the terminology preference question. Most participants (57%, n = 400) preferred only one term. Among those participants, "abortion" (43%) was most preferred, followed by "ending a pregnancy" (29%), and "pregnancy termination" (24%). In adjusted multivariable models, participants who worried "very much" that other people might find out about the abortion (29%) were significantly more likely than those who were "not at all" worried (13%) to prefer "ending a pregnancy" over having no preference for a term (adjusted relative risk ratio: 2.68, 95% Confidence Interval: 1.46-4.92).

CONCLUSIONS

People seeking abortion have varied preferences for how they want to refer to their abortions, in particular if they anticipate abortion stigma. Findings can be useful for clinicians and researchers so that they can be responsive to people's preferences during clinical interactions and in the design and conduct of abortion research.

Reaching Consensus on Politicized Topics: A Convening of Public Health Professionals to Discuss Appropriate Abortion Activities for US Health Departments

CONTEXT

Public health professionals, particularly those in state and local health departments, do not always have clear understandings of their roles related to politically controversial public health topics. A process of consensus development among public health professionals that considers the best available evidence may be able to guide decision making and lay out an appropriate course of action.

APPROACH

In May 2020, a group of maternal and child health and family planning professionals working in health departments, representatives of schools of public health, and members of affiliated organizations convened to explore values and principles relevant to health departments' engagement in abortion and delineate activities related to abortion that are appropriate for health departments. The convening followed a structured consensus process that included multiple rounds of input and opportunities for feedback and revisions.

OUTCOMES

Convening participants came to consensus on principles to guide engagement in activities related to abortion, a set of activities related to abortion that are appropriate for health departments, and next steps to support implementation of such activities.

LESSONS LEARNED

The experience of the convening indicates that consensus processes can be feasible for politically controversial public health topics such as abortion.