Public opinion on abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean: A review of the literature


Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

4278.0: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - Board 9

Abstract #116360

Sandra G. Garcia, ScM, ScD, Director of Reproductive Health for Latin America and the Caribbean, Population Council, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean - Mexico City, c/o One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY 10017, Eileen A. Yam, MPH, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Population Council, Panzacola 62 Int 102, Col Villa Coyoacan, Mexico City 04000, Mexico, and Ingrid Dries-Daffner, MPH, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, 36-071 CHS, Los Angeles, CA 90095, 310-699-3393, idd@ucla.edu.

Background: The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) identified abortion access and policies as key global health issues. Abortion laws in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are highly restrictive and may not reflect public opinion on the issue. We sought to synthesize available literature on public opinion on abortion in LAC and formulate suggestions for improving the quality of future studies on abortion public opinion.

Methods: We searched standard computer indexing services (PopLine and PubMed) to identify publications on abortion opinion in the LAC region. We limited the period of our analysis to quantitative studies from the decades preceding and following the ICPD (1984-2004).

Results: Of the 30 studies that met inclusion criteria, 25 took place in Mexico (n=15) or Brazil (n=10), with one study from each of the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Peru. The majority of providers and the general public, despite legal prohibitions in some cases, supports legal access to abortion if pregnancy risks the woman's life or health or in cases of severe fetal anomalies. Wording of opinion survey questions was often unclear, leading to inconsistent results across studies.

Conclusions: Geographic distribution of LAC abortion public opinion research is uneven and should be broadened to represent the diverse legal climates throughout the region. The majority of populations surveyed support abortion under a greater number of circumstances than are permitted in their respective countries. Questions on abortion opinion surveys must be carefully worded to avoid biased or invalid findings.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to

1) Describe the social and legal context of abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean.
2) Identify methodological challenges of obtaining accurate abortion public opinion data.
3) Describe the quality, content, and geographic distribution of research on abortion public opinion in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

Keywords: Abortion, Reproductive Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Abortion: U.S. and International Perspectives

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA