Adolescent Knowledge And Attitudes About Abortion. (Articles).(Statistical Data Included)

A focus-group study of adolescents from cities across the United States revealed that they lacked accurate knowledge about abortion and the laws governing it. Most expressed erroneous beliefs about abortion, describing it as medically dangerous, emotionally damaging and widely illegal. The study also revealed that antiabortion views, conservative morality and religious beliefs were the primary sources of these adolescents' attitudes toward abortion. In general, the participants in the study said they were personally opposed to abortion, but supported its continued legality as a woman's choice. Although most of the teenagers expressed positive feelings towa rd parents, they did not feel that mandatory parental involvement would be helpful, and in some cases could cause harm.

(Family Planning Perspectives, 24:52, 1992)

The ability of pregnant teenagers to obtain appropriate health care is at issue in the debate on whether and how to regulate teenage abortion. While the influence of knowledge and attitudes on behavior has been extensively studied, little attention has focused on the feelings, needs and knowledge of adolescents on the option of abortion. The need for services and information related to pregnancy prevention and early, safe abortion for adolescents cannot be denied: Eighty four percent of teenage pregnancies in the United States are unintended, (1) 40% of unintended pregnancies in 1985 were to minors (under age 18) and 43% of these minors ended their pregnancies with legal abortions. The 182,600 minors who had abortions in 1985 accounted for 12% of all legal abortions. (2)

Adolescents under age 18 have no political power to protect their rights to information and safe services related to abortion. Moreover, the current debate on regulating adolescents' access to abortion to ensure parental involvement may be increasing adolescents' confusion about the options they have in the event of an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. Recent campaigns to restrict abortion have targeted teenagers, who are particularly susceptible to persuasion, with an abundance of literature, while prochoice information has been less available and is unlikely to be geared toward adolescents.

Because the laws governing adolescent abortion are determined by adults, the debate on abortion tends to focus on adult opinions about adolescent sexuality and abortion, parental control of teenagers' critical decision-making, and governmental authority over minors' childbearing decisions. The limited research on adolescent abortion has focused on the medical and psychological consequences of abortion, (3) on whether minors are psychologically capable of making rational choices about pregnancy, (4) and, to a limited extent, on the effect of parental permission laws on adolescent pregnancy prevention and outcome. (5) Other studies have characterized teenagers who decide to have abortions (6) and measured post-abortion attitudes toward birth control. (7)

Although few studies have examined adolescent knowledge and attitudes about abortion and abortion laws, some research has already suggested a causal relationship between parental involvement laws and adolescent sexual behavior. In a recent study measuring the impact of the Minnesota parental notice law, (8) researchers speculated that the law influenced young teenagers (aged 15-17) to take greater precautions to prevent pregnancy. Such a hypothesis assumes that teenagers in Minnesota are well-versed in state law and consider it when they decide to engage in sexual intercourse. There is, however, no literature on adolescent knowledge of abortion that supports this conclusion.

One study of adolescent attitudes was conducted in 1975, before parental involvement laws were on legislative agendas. (9) Another study that year examined adolescent knowledge about abortion, but focused on knowledge of medical outcomes, not legal issues. (10) A more recent study of adolescent attitudes about abortion did not include questions concerning parental involvement but attempted to predict behavioral intentions regarding abortion from the general attitudes about abortion of sexually active teenagers enrolled in a family planning clinic. (11)