Resumen : Induced abortion is illegal in Mexico except when pregnancy endangers the health or life of the mother, or in cases or rape or incest. For a price, however, individual physicians still provide abortions. Access to safe abortion is therefore strictly confined to wealthier women who can pay the high cost of a safe, confidential procedure. Lower income women suffer substantial morbidity and mortality from attempts to abort their fetuses or simply bear unwanted children. The author set out to identify the determinants of the decision to continue or interrupt an unplanned pregnancy among adolescents aged 12-19 years by examining the circumstances and sociocultural conditions underlying such a decision. The process included looking at factors such as the girl's sexual and reproductive behavior, her partner's and mother's response to the pregnancy, the partner relationship, her education and employment characteristics, and other factors. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 72 girls requesting pregnancy-related services at the Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea Gonzalez in Mexico City. 50% were pregnant and 50% had recently had an abortion. Abortions are expensive and there is no way given current legal conditions to be sure they will work. The most critical element in deciding whether and how to have an abortion is therefore economic in nature. If safe induced abortions were freely available to all women in need, there would have been many more abortions than pregnancies in the study group. Mothers and boyfriends also sway young women's decisions with regard to abortion or motherhood. Recommendations are made with regard to abortion policy, sexual and reproductive health education, family planning programs, and medical training and hospital services.
Notes : Inglés/anglais/English, nbsp;Abstract : Popline (http://db.jhuccp.org/popinform/basic.html) - PIP 100675