Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2019 Oct;147(1):115-119. doi: 10.1002/ijgo.12927. Epub 2019 Aug 6.
In this study, we sought to determine to what extent the abortion law in Ghana is reflective of public opinion.
In a cross-sectional, community-based survey, individuals in two fishing communities in Accra were interviewed about their beliefs on abortion between May and July 2016, and sociodemographic, attitudinal, and experience data were collected. Factors associated with the outcome variable (abortion is justified to save the life/health of the woman: Yes/No) were entered into a multivariate logistic regression.
A total of 508 participants completed the survey. Thirty-nine percent (n=198) of the sample agreed that abortion was justified to save the life/health of the woman, with no significant differences in this finding when controlling for understanding of the law, gender, marital status, or personal experience of abortion in multivariate analysis. Higher education (odds ratio [OR] 1.64 [P<0.001]) and older age (OR 1.28 [P<0.001]) are positively associated with abortion being justified to save life/health, while those who have had an experience of unwanted sex are less likely to believe that (OR 0.60 [P=0.029]).
The participants held conservative views about the justification of abortion to save a woman's life and/or health. Improving access to safe abortion services will require acknowledgment of the broader social and cultural context that may make accessing such services difficult.
本研究旨在探讨加纳的堕胎法在多大程度上反映了公众意见。
采用横断面、基于社区的调查方法，于 2016 年 5 月至 7 月在阿克拉的两个渔村对个体进行有关堕胎的信念访谈，并收集社会人口学、态度和经验数据。将与因变量（堕胎挽救妇女生命/健康是合理的：是/否）相关的因素纳入多变量逻辑回归。
共有 508 名参与者完成了调查。39%（n=198）的样本认为堕胎挽救妇女生命/健康是合理的，在多变量分析中控制对法律的理解、性别、婚姻状况或个人堕胎经历时，这一发现没有显著差异。较高的教育程度（比值比[OR]1.64[P<0.001]）和年龄较大（OR 1.28[P<0.001]）与堕胎挽救生命/健康是合理的正相关，而那些经历过非意愿性行为的人则不太可能认为（OR 0.60[P=0.029]）。
参与者对堕胎挽救妇女生命和/或健康的合理性持保守观点。要改善安全堕胎服务的可及性，就必须承认可能使获得此类服务变得困难的更广泛的社会和文化背景。
