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

Abstract #117432

Laura Villa Torres, BA, Ipas Mexico, Pachuca 92, Colonia Condesa, Mexico DF, Mexico, 52 55 5211 8381, lauravillatorres@hotmail.com and Deborah L. Billings, PhD, Research and Evaluation, Ipas Mexico, Pachuca 92, Colonia Condesa, Mexico City, 06140, Mexico.

Although decision-making related to abortion is often a private and individual process, society and social context often play important roles in the lives of women who choose to terminate their pregnancies. This work focuses on the role of young Mexican women's social networks in their abortion experiences during adolescence or entering young adulthood. Snowball sampling, initiated with contact with a young woman known to the researcher, was used to identify a total of six young women who had experienced an abortion between the ages of 15 to 24 years. In-depth interviews were conducted and the texts analyzed using Atlas Ti. The main emerging themes were linked to women's abortion processes, highlighting the conditions of their pregnancies, contraceptive use, relations with their partners, and activation of social networks to access abortion services. The latter provided support, counseling and accompaniment, as well as economic resources but also placed barriers in the paths of young women. This study contributes to an understanding of how young urban-based women access services in a country where abortion is legally restricted.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the ways in which social networks facilitate and impede teens’ abortion experiences in a legally restrictive setting.
• Describe the characteristics of the young women’s social networks and how women decide to request social support from one or more members of their networks.

Keywords: Adolescents, International, Abortion

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.