Emory University School of Medicine, Division of Family Planning, 49 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive SE, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA.
Contraception. 2021 Feb;103(2):121-126. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2020.10.010. Epub 2020 Oct 17.
To explore the impact of restrictive abortion policies in the state of Georgia on the lives of people seeking abortion and how they would manage unwanted pregnancies.
We conducted a cross sectional study of English and Spanish-speaking people seeking abortion from three high-volume outpatient abortion clinics in Atlanta, Georgia from April 2019 through August 2019. Participants completed a multiple-choice questionnaire. We used bivariable and multivariable analysis to explore relationships between demographic characteristics and how people would manage their unwanted pregnancies if abortion were illegal in the state. Two researchers (EC and SC) conducted qualitative analysis on free response answers and coded them by key emotion.
Of the 382 participants, 312 (81.9%) considered at least one way to end their pregnancy if abortion were illegal in Georgia: 252 (66.1%) by traveling to another state, 85 (22.3%) by self-management with medications and/or herbs, and 32 (8.4%) considered self-harm behaviors. When asked how they would feel about not being able to have a desired abortion, 94% reported negative emotions, ranging from "scared" to "enslaved."
Limiting access to legal abortion in Georgia would negatively impact the lives of people seeking abortion and has the potential to drive individuals to seek more costly and risky alternatives to end their pregnancy.
Restricting abortion in Georgia may cause medically unnecessary delays in care, increased travel time, cost and negative emotional responses to people seeking abortion. Mitigating strategies include legislative challenges to restrictive laws as well as harm reduction education.
探讨佐治亚州的限制性堕胎政策对寻求堕胎的人们的生活的影响，以及他们将如何应对意外怀孕。
我们对 2019 年 4 月至 8 月期间在佐治亚州亚特兰大的三家高容量门诊堕胎诊所寻求堕胎的讲英语和西班牙语的人进行了横断面研究。参与者完成了多项选择问卷。我们使用双变量和多变量分析来探讨人口统计学特征与如果该州堕胎非法人们将如何管理意外怀孕之间的关系。两名研究人员（EC 和 SC）对自由回答的答案进行了定性分析，并按关键情绪对其进行了编码。
在 382 名参与者中，有 312 名（81.9％）考虑了如果在佐治亚州堕胎非法至少一种结束妊娠的方法：252 名（66.1％）通过前往另一个州，85 名（22.3％）通过自行用药和/或草药管理，32 名（8.4％）考虑了自我伤害行为。当被问及无法进行所需的堕胎时，他们会有何感受，94％的人报告了负面情绪，从“害怕”到“被奴役”。
限制佐治亚州的合法堕胎会对寻求堕胎的人们的生活产生负面影响，并有可能促使个人寻求更昂贵和风险更高的替代方案来终止妊娠。
在佐治亚州限制堕胎可能会导致不必要的医疗延误，增加旅行时间，成本以及对寻求堕胎的人们产生负面情绪反应。减轻策略包括对限制性法律进行立法挑战以及减少伤害的教育。
