Young women’s attitudes toward abortion may change temporarily during a pregnancy scare

In the United States, many restrictions and regulations around abortion exist, including waiting period requirements for women, ostensibly to ensure they do not regret their reproductive choice. In an article newly released online this month in Social Science Research, authors Newmyer and Yabiku reuse data from the public-use version of the longitudinal study, Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) Study [Genesee County, Michigan], 2008-2012 [Public and Highly Restricted-Use] (ICPSR 34626) to examine the relationship between women’s attitudes about abortion and their lived reproductive experiences. Specifically, they wanted to investigate “how abortion attitudes might change during a pregnancy scare or pregnancy uncertainty.”

Distributed by Data Sharing for Demographic Research, the RDSL aimed to investigate the types of romantic relationships that produce early and/or unintended pregnancies. In 2008, it gathered information about intimate and familial relationships, contraceptive use, and reproductive history from a representative sample of just over 1,000 women, aged 18 and 19 at baseline, in Genesee County, Michigan. The baseline survey was followed by a series of three supplemental surveys administered between 2009 and 2011, which covered a range of topics, including assumptions and knowledge of various forms of contraception, and attitudes and opinions about social life. A major component of the RDSL is the additional data captured in respondents’ weekly journal entries during the study period, totalling almost 60,000 weekly entries by 2012. The focus of the journal data collection was to gather dynamic, prospective measurements of pregnancy desires and contraceptive use, as well as relationship attributes such as commitment, sexual intimacy, and decision-making regarding contraception. In their main analysis, Newmyer and Yabiku limited their sample “only to weeks where abortion attitude questions were present (3,761 observations and 769 women).” They found that a woman’s attitudes about abortion “can change when she is uncertain about her pregnancy; however, this change is not long lasting and ends after the scare or uncertainty when a woman is likely to have already made her pregnancy decision.” Click here for links to more publications using either the public-use or restricted-use versions of the RDSL.