Abortion attitudes among South Africans

Findings from the 2013 social attitudes survey

Bibliographic Data

ID15097834
AuthorsElizabeth A Mosley (0000-0001-9534-2457, University of Michigan, corresponding author), Elizabeth J King (0000-0001-8465-4607, University of Michigan), Amy J Schulz (0000-0003-3580-3906, University of Michigan), Lisa H Harris (0000-0002-4629-7431, University of Michigan), Nicole De Wet (0000-0001-5750-2851, University of the Witwatersrand), Barbara A Anderson (0000-0003-2300-0954, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
Year2017
Volume19
Issue8
Pages918-933
Publication date2017-08-03
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691058.2016.1272715
PMID28100112
OpenAlexW2579861219
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited44

Abortion is legal in South Africa, but over half of abortions remain unsafe there. Evidence suggests women who are (Black) African, of lower socioeconomic status, living with HIV, or residents of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, or Limpopo provinces are disproportionately vulnerable to morbidity or mortality from unsafe abortion. Negative attitudes toward abortion have been documented in purposively sampled studies, yet it remains unclear what attitudes exist nationally or whether they differ across sociodemographic groups, with implications for inequities in service accessibility and health. In the current study, we analysed nationally representative data from 2013 to estimate the prevalence of negative abortion attitudes in South Africa and to identify racial, socioeconomic and geographic differences. More respondents felt abortion was 'always wrong' in the case of family poverty (75.4%) as compared to foetal anomaly (55%), and over half of respondents felt abortion was 'always wrong' in both cases (52.5%). Using binary logistic regression models, we found significantly higher odds of negative abortion attitudes among non-Xhosa African and Coloured respondents (compared to Xhosa respondents), those with primary education or less, and residents of Gauteng and Limpopo (compared to Western Cape). We contextualise and discuss these findings using a human rights-based approach to health

Abortion · Economic growth · Environmental health · Family planning · Geography · Logistic regression · Odds · Population · Poverty · Pregnancy · Socioeconomic status · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Unsafe abortion · Xhosa · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Demography · Medicine · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive Health and Technologies

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