State regulated waiting periods and information may not help women seeking abortions...

[cynatnite]

CONTEXT: Various restrictions on abortion have been imposed under the pretense that women may be uninformed, undecided or coerced in regard to their decision to terminate a pregnancy. Understanding whether certain women are at risk of low confidence in their abortion decision is useful for providing client-centered care and allocating counseling time to women with the greatest needs.

METHODS: Data were abstracted from the precounseling needs assessment form and clinical intake form of 5,109 women who sought 5,387 abortions at one U.S. clinic in 2008. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze variables associated with women’s high confidence in their abortion decision.

RESULTS: For 87% of the abortions sought, women had high confidence in their decision before receiving counseling. Certain variables were negatively associated with abortions’ being sought by women with high confidence: being younger than 20, being black, not having a high school diploma, having a history of depression, having a fetus with an anomaly, having general difficulty making decisions, having spiritual concerns, believing that abortion is killing and fearing not being forgiven by God (odds ratios, 0.2–0.8). Having a supportive mother or male partner was associated with increased odds of high confidence (1.3 and 1.2, respectively).

CONCLUSION: Regulations requiring state-approved information or waiting periods may not meet the complex needs of all women. Instead, women may benefit more from interactions with trained staff who can assess and respond to their individual needs.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/4411712.html

[Lionessa]

1. Sorry, the entire context of the article is still that women need

to be informed as though they are too stupid to make the decision without the assistance of any form of forced anything.

[cynatnite]

2. Hmm...I read that completely different...

87% of women alredy had high confidence in their decisions. The waiting periods and other state impositions were not helping them. Trained staff at a clinic which provides abortions is what is helpful.

This sounds to me like the repuke pushing their notions are not helping women.

[Lionessa]

4. Hmm, i read it as suggesting individualized unrequested interference.

Seems no unrequested interference should occur.

[cynatnite]

5. It's talking about trained staff at the clinic which women need...

These are nurses and counselors which is a norm at a clinic like this. They help the women, but do not get in the way.

This study is saying that the waiting periods and unrequested information the states are pushing is not meeting the women's needs.

[Lionessa]

6. I don't care trained or not, women should not be forced into any time of

counseling or any other emotional direction unless she REQUESTS it. This is still suggesting that having counselors, et al, interfere is okay, it just isn't individualized and they point to the waiting period. Nowhere do I read that advice and counseling is no one's business unless requested, but instead still the opposite.

[cynatnite]

7. They have to be there for medical procedures...

I've been at these clinics and they are not there to interfere. They make sure these women's wishes are followed through with. Not only that, there is still an emotional factor that women have to contend with as well. They also want to make sure that women are not coerced by husbands or boyfriends. One clinic I was at, they would not allow boyfriends, husbands, and even friends in the counseling room. It was done to make sure the women were there of their own accord and making their own decision.

The nurses are there to assist the doctors and to do the pre-op work necessary.

These are abortion clinics where staff work for the women. They are not there to judge or interfere. They are there FOR the women and no one else. It's the state laws which have interfered in this which is not meeting the women's needs.

The staff at these abortions clinics are the best ones for that and not some idiotic state lawmaker who knows nothing about these women.

[csziggy]

8. Exactly - this reminds me of the forced "educational" programs

The only place in town used to require at every mammogram appointment. Every single time, every single woman was forced to watch a video about self exam, the importance of getting mammograms, etc. The level of the presentation was suitable for a very slow eighth grader. In a town with a very high number of women with college and postgraduate degrees it was an insult.

We were not given a choice - if you arrived late for the presentation, they cancelled your mammogram appointment and made a new once - while charging you for a cancelled appointment. They turned the lights off in the room while showing the presentation so you couldn't even read to avoid it.

There was no choice in another way - it was the only place in town that did mammograms and always had been. Finally an alternative place opened and offered individual counseling if the woman chose to have it. Suddenly, the older place dropped their paternalistic attitude, but so many of us resented them for the way they had treated us for years we will not go back for any of their services unless we are forced.

[cynatnite]

9. These are staff working in abortion clinics...

You know the ones who get shot at by abortion protesters?

They are there for the women and not anyone else. This study is saying that the trained staff working there are the best ones to fill women's needs. The waiting periods and more which was put in place by woman hating repukes have shown to not meet women's needs. That is the problem.

The staff that work at these clinics, which were hired by these clinics, are trained to help these women. They do not work at an abortion clinic to talk them out of having an abortion.

[madinmaryland]

3. The "Conclusion" should be obvious, but unfortunately in this country is not.

A Woman should be able to have trained professions (i.e. doctors, nurses) that she can freely discuss her needs with, without any repercussion from the government. And then be able to make an informed decision. The woman must be able to make her own decision without any coercion.