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Abstract
Objectives: Restrictive policies that limit access to abortion often lead women to seek services abroad. We present results from an exploratory study aimed at documenting the socio-demographic characteristics, travel and abortion-seeking experiences of non-resident women seeking abortions in the UK.
Methods: Between August 2014 and March 2015, we surveyed a convenience sample of 58 non-UK residents seeking abortions at three British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) abortion clinics in England in order to better understand the experiences of non-resident women who travel to the UK seeking abortion services.
Results: Participants travelled to England from 14 countries in Europe and the Middle East. Twenty-six percent of participants reported gestational ages between 14 and 20 weeks, and 14% (n = 8) were beyond 20 weeks since their last menstrual period (LMP). More women from Western Europe sought abortions beyond 13 weeks gestation than from any other region. Women reported seeking abortion outside of their country of residence for a variety of reasons, most commonly, that abortion was not legal (51%), followed by having passed the gestational limit for a legal abortion (31%). Women paid an average of £631 for travel expenses, and an average of £210 for accommodation. More than half of women in our study found it difficult to cover travel costs.
Conclusions: Understanding how and why women seek abortion care far from their countries of residence is an important topic for future research and could help to inform abortion-related policy decisions in the UK and in Europe.
Chinese abstract
目的: 对堕胎的限制性政策常导致女性出国以寻求相应的流产服务。我们目前的结果出自一个探索性实验, 其目标是归档在英国寻求堕胎的非本国女性的社会人口统计学特征、旅行和堕胎经历。
方法: 在2014年8月到2015年5月, 我们调查了一组在英格兰三家不列颠妊娠咨询服务中心（BPAS）寻求堕胎的58人非英国国民样本, 以便于更好地理解客旅英国来寻求堕胎的非英国本国女性的经历。
结果: 实验的参与者是从14个欧洲或中东国家来到英国。26%的参与者在妊娠期14到20周, 14%（n=8）自末次月经（LMP）已20周以上。比起其他地区, 来自西欧有更多女性在13周妊娠期以上寻求堕胎。女性离开自己国家进行堕胎的有一系列原因, 最常见的原因是国内堕胎非法（51%）, 紧随其后的是已经超过了妊娠期允许的合法堕胎期（31%）。女性的旅行费用平均为631英镑, 食宿费平均210英镑。研究中, 过半女性发现难以负担客旅支出。
结论: 理解女性如何和为何远离自己有公民身份的国家去寻求堕胎医护, 是未来研究的一个重要主题, 可以帮助使英国和欧洲的堕胎相关政策知悉。
Disclosure statement
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.