Blanchard K, et al. - Here, researchers studied women's experiences seeking and receiving second-trimester abortion care in two geographically and legislatively different settings to inform ways to improve abortion care access and services. The current study showed that the women seeking the second-trimester abortion in these locations reported positive abortion experiences. However, they had to overcome significant obstacles to obtain care.

Methods

• For this study, they conducted in-depth interviews with women who obtained second-trimester abortion care.
• Themes from the interviews were then used to inform a self-administered survey, which was finished by 108 women who received second-trimester abortion care in the Northeast and Midwest.
• They calculated descriptive statistics and utilized chi-squared and t-tests to compare responses.

Results

• In this study, they interviewed eight women and surveyed 108 women.
• Most interviewees and 65.2% of survey respondents reported difficulties accessing care.
• Albeit most interview and survey respondents had insurance, a slight majority reported difficulty funding care.
• All interviewees and 57.9% of survey respondents reported positive experiences with providers, with many interviewees and 62.0% of survey respondents saying their abortion care was better than their usual health care.
• Most interviewees and 75.8% of survey respondents reported pain as low to moderate, and the majority of participants reported it was the same or less than expected.
• Knowledge about abortion restrictions was low.
• Most interviewees and 68.4% survey respondents disagreed with restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion.
• Common proposals to enhance experiences were to ensure travel and financial support and to reduce wait times at clinics.
• There were few regional differences among outcomes.