142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Online Program

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

309879
Reproductive autonomy among highly religious women: A cross-sectional survey

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 9:30 AM - 9:50 AM

Chava Kahn, MD , Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI
Kelli Hall, PhD, MS , University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Vanessa Dalton, MD, MPH , University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Melissa Zochowski, MBA , University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Lisa Harris, MD, PhD , Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women's Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Lisa Martin, PhD , Women's and Gender Studies Program/Health Policy Studies Program, University of Michigan, Dearborn, Dearborn, MI
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Background: Reproductive autonomy refers to having control over one’s own fertility desires. Religiosity and identification in a religious community may impact a woman’s ability to make decisions surrounding family planning. However, little is known about how religious values and identification in a religious community influence reproductive autonomy.

Objective: To measure reproductive autonomy among highly religious women, using a validated scale.

Methods: Highly religious, married women, between the ages of 18 and 45, were eligible. We recruited using snowball sampling via Facebook. We administered a validated reproductive autonomy scale through an online questionnaire. The scale consists of 14 items and three domains: freedom from coercion, partner communication, and decision-making. We performed Fisher’s exact test and ANOVA to evaluate differences between religious groups and linear regression to account for covariates.

Results: A total of 449 eligible women completed the survey: 201 Jewish, 175 Catholic, 54 Protestant, and 19 Mormon. Jewish women had significantly higher levels of reproductive autonomy than Catholic, Protestant, and Mormon women (mean 3.12 vs. 2.29, 2.51, 2.53; p=.0000). Over half (58%) of Catholic, Protestant, and Mormon women who did not want to become pregnant reported that their husbands coerced them to not use contraception versus 15% of Jewish women (p=.000). Differences remained significant after adjusting for age, education, income, and history of sexual abuse.

Conclusion: Christian women have significantly lower levels of reproductive autonomy than Jewish women. Further research is needed to investigate the relationship between religion and gender role beliefs and how they impact a woman’s autonomy.

Learning Areas:

Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Define reproductive autonomy. Discuss how religion can influence a woman's level of reproductive autonomy.

Keyword(s): Family Planning, Religion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I actively participated in the design and data analysis and interpretation for this study and served as a mentor to the primary author.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4064.0: Exploring the relationship between religion and reproductive health