Centre for Population, Family and Health and the Department of Sociology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Centre for Population, Family and Health.
Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2019 Sep;51(3):175-183. doi: 10.1363/psrh.12116. Epub 2019 Sep 11.
Women who seek abortion care beyond the first trimester of gestation are often in a vulnerable socioeconomic position with limited social support, and in Belgium, the details of their circumstances are insufficiently understood. A better understanding of this group is essential to a critical evaluation of Belgian abortion policy, which restricts abortions on request after the first trimester.
Anonymized patient records were collected between 2013 and 2016 from LUNA centers, which are non-hospital-based abortion clinics in Flanders. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify associations between women's characteristics and whether they presented within or beyond the legal limit, which was 13 weeks and 1 day at the time of the study.
A total of 28,741 women requested an abortion, and 972 individuals (3.4%) presented beyond the legal limit; 29% of these latter women were unable to receive abortion care as a result of the mandatory six-day waiting period. Characteristics positively associated with presenting beyond the limit, instead of beforehand, were being younger than 20, as opposed to 20-24 (odds ratio, 1.7); receiving a primary, lower secondary, upper secondary or special-needs education, rather than a higher education (1.8-3.1); being unemployed, rather than employed (1.3); and holding Belgian rather than a foreign nationality (0.8). Being accompanied by someone to the LUNA center (0.8), having irregularly (0.6) or regularly used contraceptives (0.7), and having ever had an abortion (0.8) were negatively associated with presenting beyond, rather than before, the limit.
A fuller consideration of patients' characteristics when evaluating Belgian abortion policy is needed to ensure that the needs and rights of socioeconomically vulnerable women are addressed.
寻求妊娠 13 周以上堕胎服务的女性通常处于弱势的社会经济地位，社会支持有限，而在比利时，对她们的情况了解不足。为了对限制妊娠 13 周后要求堕胎的比利时堕胎政策进行批判性评估，了解这一群体至关重要。
2013 年至 2016 年，从非医院式堕胎诊所 LUNA 中心收集匿名患者记录。采用逻辑回归分析，确定女性特征与她们是否在法律限制内或超出法律限制就诊之间的关联，研究时的法律限制是 13 周加 1 天。
共有 28741 名妇女要求堕胎，其中 972 人（3.4%）超出法律限制就诊；这些妇女中有 29%由于强制性的 6 天等待期而无法获得堕胎服务。与在法律限制内就诊相比，超出法律限制就诊的特征为：年龄小于 20 岁（优势比，1.7），而不是 20-24 岁；接受小学、初中、高中或特殊教育，而不是高等教育（1.8-3.1）；失业，而不是就业（1.3）；拥有比利时国籍，而不是外国国籍（0.8）。有人陪伴前往 LUNA 中心（0.8）、不定期（0.6）或定期使用避孕药具（0.7）、曾经堕胎（0.8）与超出法律限制就诊相关，而不是在法律限制内就诊。
在评估比利时堕胎政策时，需要更全面地考虑患者的特征，以确保社会经济弱势妇女的需求和权利得到满足。
