Study design and setting
This study is a retrospective survey of American women who completed an electronic survey form in October of 2022. The study design was approved by the Sterling Institutional Review Board (approval no. 10225). The survey instrument was developed in consultation with experts in abortion counseling and researchers who have published in the field of abortion’s association with emotional and mental health effects. The survey included five statements regarding pressures to abort and 10 statements regarding outcome variables, collectively shown in Table1 , along with the abbreviation for each pressure stated in this report. Respondents indicated their responses using a slider on a visual analog scale displayed on their own electronic devices. While no numbers were shown to the respondents when they slid their markers, their responses on the visual analog scale were automatically converted to the appropriate percentage in a range from 0 to 100.
In brief, respondents rated the level of pressure, if any, they experienced from their male partner, their family, other persons, financial pressures, and other circumstances. To further our analyses, we also constructed the average score (AvgPr) and the maximum score (MaxPr) each woman reported across each of these five scales. The outcome scales rated each respondent’s level of experience of positive emotions, negative emotions, disruption of normal life, desire for help to cope, intrusive thoughts, frequent feelings of loss, their assessment of abortion’s impact on their mental health, and whether completing the survey increased feelings of stress.
Population
The surveyed population was drawn from 28 million Cint panelists in the United States [15 ]. Cint panelists are persons who voluntarily complete surveys using their own electronic devices in exchange for small rewards. Our selection criteria required Cint to obtain 1,000 completed surveys from females who are residents of the United States who were 41 to 45 years of age, inclusive, at a cost of three dollars per completed survey. This narrow age range was chosen to eliminate the confounding effects of age while capturing the experience of women who have completed the majority of their reproductive lives.
This study is a retrospective survey of American women who completed an electronic survey form in October of 2022. The study design was approved by the Sterling Institutional Review Board (approval no. 10225). The survey instrument was developed in consultation with experts in abortion counseling and researchers who have published in the field of abortion’s association with emotional and mental health effects. The survey included five statements regarding pressures to abort and 10 statements regarding outcome variables, collectively shown in Table
In brief, respondents rated the level of pressure, if any, they experienced from their male partner, their family, other persons, financial pressures, and other circumstances. To further our analyses, we also constructed the average score (AvgPr) and the maximum score (MaxPr) each woman reported across each of these five scales. The outcome scales rated each respondent’s level of experience of positive emotions, negative emotions, disruption of normal life, desire for help to cope, intrusive thoughts, frequent feelings of loss, their assessment of abortion’s impact on their mental health, and whether completing the survey increased feelings of stress.
Population
The surveyed population was drawn from 28 million Cint panelists in the United States [15 ]. Cint panelists are persons who voluntarily complete surveys using their own electronic devices in exchange for small rewards. Our selection criteria required Cint to obtain 1,000 completed surveys from females who are residents of the United States who were 41 to 45 years of age, inclusive, at a cost of three dollars per completed survey. This narrow age range was chosen to eliminate the confounding effects of age while capturing the experience of women who have completed the majority of their reproductive lives.
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