Development of the abortion provider's stigma sale

Introduction: Abortion stigma is prolific in US society. Few studies have investigated its impact on abortion providers. We designed a new measure of abortion stigma to assess how abortion stigma is perceived and experienced by providers. Methods: We created the Abortion Provider's Stigma Scale (ABSS), a 15-item rating response scale. Reliability analyses were assessed at a family planning clinic (N=14). Factor analysis and descriptive statistics were conducted using a sample of abortion providers participating in the Providers' Share Workshop (N=65). All analyses were completed using Stata SE/12.0 (Statacorp, 2012). Results: The ABSS demonstrated good reliability, with internal consistency of alpha=0.81 and excellent test–retest reliability, r=0.94. Abortion stigma was salient in provider's lives, with over 65% worrying and avoiding disclosure of their work at least some of the time, and 89% feeling unappreciated by society. Almost 50% of workers reported personal experiences of verbal or physical violence. At the same time, workers felt they were making a positive contribution to society (92%) and took great pride in the work (98%). Exploratory factor analysis using the varimax orthogonal procedure resulted in a 3-factor solution that explained 92% of the variance. Factor one, discrimination; factor two, stigma management; factor three, an inverse relationship between the media's stigmatizing of abortion and provider's serving as an outlet for patient's emotional frustration. Discussion: Abortion stigma marginalizes abortion workers, requiring providers to actively engage in stigma management. We hypothesize that abortion workers' high levels of pride may work to alleviate the negative effects of abortion stigma.