It's just not the right time: An exploration of factors influencing Latinas experiences with abortion

Although poor Latinas experience the highest unintended pregnancy rate among U.S. women, they have comparatively lower rates of abortion. These low rates are attributed to the myriad of challenges that impede access to abortion, including lack of insurance coverage, cultural factors, and religious beliefs, among others. There is a dearth of studies regarding the contextual issues surrounding the experiences of Latinas and abortion. Presentation will describe Latinas' attitudes, decision-making, and experiences with abortion. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 U. S. born, English-speaking Latinas 18-25 seeking a confirmation pregnancy test at a clinic providing abortion services in Florida. Most participants were single (70%), unemployed (55%), uninsured (80%), and reported a total household income of less than $15,000 (52%). Findings demonstrated that multilevel barriers worked together and independently influencing the abortion-related decision-making and experiences of Latinas. Although 60% had abortions, most were against abortions. Cultural values and expectations such as tradition, familial orientation, and fatalism played an important role. Latinas who had an abortion held the belief that medical abortion is less of an abortion than surgical method. Most frequently cited reasons for abortion were lack of social support, stigmatization of unintended pregnancy, family stigma, shame, community stigma, and lack of readiness for child. Barriers to abortion were financial, religious, confidentiality issues, and lack of information regarding abortion. Understanding factors related to the context and experiences of Latinas with abortion is important for public health and policy makers in providing culturally relevant information and improving mechanisms for abortion access for Latinas.