In India, Young Unmarried Women Face Obstacles to Early Abortion

Guttmacher News Release: YOUNG, UNMARRIED WOMEN IN INDIA FACE OBSTACLES TO OBTAINING EARLY ABORTIONS:

A new study by researchers at the Population Council, New Delhi, shows that many young, unmarried Indian women who received abortion services in 2007–2008 faced obstacles to obtaining the procedure early in their pregnancies. Shveta Kalyanwala and colleagues surveyed 549 women in the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand who had an abortion. Among these women, 84% decided before the end of the first trimester to have an abortion, but only 75% were able to obtain one during that time period. The authors believe that several factors contributed to women having an abortion later in pregnancy, including a delayed recognition of pregnancy, lack of awareness that abortion is legal for unmarried women and lack of support from partners and family.

While 83% of women surveyed realized they were pregnant within the first two months of their pregnancy and 91% within the first trimester, 9% did not realize it until the second trimester. Furthermore, only 22% of women had been aware prior to becoming pregnant that abortion services were legally available to unmarried women. . . .