What attributes of abortion care affect people's decision-making? Results from a discrete choice experiment.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to measure both stated and experimentally "revealed" abortion provision preferences among US people with capacity for pregnancy.

STUDY DESIGN

In July 2022, we recruited US residents assigned female sex at birth and aged 18 to 55 years using Prolific, an online survey hosting platform. We asked participants what first-trimester abortion method and delivery model they would prefer. We also assessed abortion care preferences with a discrete choice experiment, which examined the relative importance of the following care attributes: method, distance, wait time for appointment, delivery model (telehealth vs in-clinic), and cost.

RESULTS

More than half of the 887 respondents (59%) self-reported a slight (22%) or strong (37%) preference for medication compared to aspiration abortion; 11% stated no preference. Our discrete choice experiment found that cost and wait time had a greater effect on hypothetical decision-making than did method and delivery model (discrete choice experiment average importances = 44.3 and 23.2, respectively, compared to 15.9 and 8.2, respectively). Simulations indicated that holding other attributes constant, respondents preferred medication to aspiration abortion and telehealth to in-clinic care.

CONCLUSIONS

This study, the first to examine abortion preferences in the United States, using a discrete choice experiment, demonstrates the importance of wait time and cost in abortion care decision-making. Our work indicates that for this population, factors related to health care financing and organization may matter more than clinical aspects of care.

IMPLICATIONS

Although people in this study preferred medication to aspiration abortion and telehealth to in-clinic care, wait time and cost of care played a greater role in care decision-making. Focusing solely on clinical aspects of care (i.e., method, delivery model) may ignore other attributes of care that are particularly important for potential patients.