Current:Home > MyMore women are ending pregnancies on their own, a new study suggests. Some resort to unsafe methods -ProgressCapital
More women are ending pregnancies on their own, a new study suggests. Some resort to unsafe methods
Poinbank View
Date:2025-04-07 18:25:04
A growing number of women said they’ve tried to end their pregnancies on their own by doing things like taking herbs, drinking alcohol or even hitting themselves in the belly, a new study suggests.
Researchers surveyed reproductive-age women in the U.S. before and after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The proportion who reported trying to end pregnancies by themselves rose from 2.4% to 3.3%.
“A lot of people are taking things into their own hands,” said Dr. Grace Ferguson, a Pittsburgh OB-GYN and abortion provider who wasn’t involved in the research, which was published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Study authors acknowledged that the increase is small. But the data suggests that it could number in the hundreds of thousands of women.
Researchers surveyed about 7,000 women six months before the Supreme Court decision, and then another group of 7,100 a year after the decision. They asked whether participants had ever taken or done something on their own to end a pregnancy. Those who said yes were asked follow-up questions about their experiences.
“Our data show that making abortion more difficult to access is not going to mean that people want or need an abortion less frequently,” said Lauren Ralph, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and one of the study’s authors.
Women gave various reasons for handling their own abortions, such as wanting an extra measure of privacy, being concerned about the cost of clinic procedures and preferring to try to end their pregnancies by themselves first.
They reported using a range of methods. Some took medications — including emergency contraception and the abortion pills misoprostol and mifepristone obtained outside the medical system and without a prescription. Others drank alcohol or used drugs. Some resorted to potentially harmful physical methods such as hitting themselves in the abdomen, lifting heavy things or inserting objects into their bodies.
Some respondents said they suffered complications like bleeding and pain and had to seek medical care afterward. Some said they later had an abortion at a clinic. Some said their pregnancies ended after their attempts or from a later miscarriage, while others said they wound up continuing their pregnancies when the method didn’t work.
Ralph pointed to some caveats and limits to the research. Respondents may be under-reporting their abortions, she said, because researchers are asking them about “a sensitive and potentially criminalized behavior.”
She also cautioned that some women may have understood the question differently after the Dobbs decision, such as believing that getting medication abortion through telehealth is outside the formal health care system when it’s not. But Ralph said she and her colleagues tested how people were interpreting the question before each survey was conducted.
The bottom line, Ferguson said, is that the study’s findings “confirm the statement we’ve been saying forever: If you make it hard to get (an abortion) in a formal setting, people will just do it informally.”
The research was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and a third foundation that was listed as anonymous.
___
AP polling editor Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
veryGood! (87724)
Related
- Everything Simone Biles did at the Paris Olympics was amplified. She thrived in the spotlight
- U.S. measles milestone: 59 cases so far in 2024 — more than all of 2023
- Fast-moving fire damages commercial freighter at Ohio port, but no injuries reported
- Parents of school shooting victims vow more action - even after shooter's parents convicted
- Audit: California risked millions in homelessness funds due to poor anti-fraud protections
- WWE WrestleMania 40 match card: 10 matches, what to know three weeks ahead of event
- Fasting at school? More Muslim students in the US are getting support during Ramadan
- Oprah Winfrey opens up about exiting Weight Watchers after using weight loss drug
- US Open player compensation rises to a record $65 million, with singles champs getting $3.6 million
- Deion Sanders makes grand appearance on `The Tonight Show' with Jimmy Fallon
Ranking
- US appeals court rejects Nasdaq’s diversity rules for company boards
- Shakira Says She Put Her Career on Hold for Ex Gerard Piqué Before Breakup
- Social media is addictive by design. We must act to protect our kids' mental health.
- Republican lawmakers in Kentucky approve putting a school choice measure on the November ballot
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- The deceptive math of credit card rewards: Spending for points doesn't always make sense
- Fast-moving fire damages commercial freighter at Ohio port, but no injuries reported
- Savannah Chrisley Shares Parents Todd and Julie's Brutally Honest Reaction to Masked Singer Gig
Recommendation
RFK Jr. closer to getting on New Jersey ballot after judge rules he didn’t violate ‘sore loser’ law
Home sellers cut list prices amid higher mortgage rates as spring buying season begins
Prosecutor says southern Indiana woman shot 3 kids dead before killing herself
Things to know about Uber and Lyft saying they will halt ride-hailing services in Minneapolis
Blake Lively’s Inner Circle Shares Rare Insight on Her Life as a Mom to 4 Kids
Blake Lively Seemingly Trolls Kate Middleton Over Photoshop Fail
Interest in TikTok, distressed NY bank has echoes of Mnuchin’s pre-Trump investment playbook
2024 NFL free agency updates: Tracker for Friday's biggest buzz, notable contracts