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ABSTRACT
Although abortion rates appear to be declining in high-income nations, there is still a need for accessible, safe abortion services. However, limited attention has been paid to understanding the social contexts which shape access to abortion information and services for communities who are less engaged with sexual and reproductive health care more generally. This paper explores the views and experiences of 27 migrant and refugee young people (16–24 years old) living in Sydney, Australia, regarding unintended pregnancy and abortion. Pregnancy outside marriage was described by all participants as a shameful prospect as it revealed pre-marital sexual activity. Even when abortion was described as culturally and/or religiously unacceptable, it was believed many families would find an abortion preferable to continuing an unintended pregnancy outside marriage. However, a pervasive culture of silence regarding sexual and reproductive health may limit access to quality information and support in this area. To better meet the needs of these young people, greater attention must be paid to strengthening youth and community awareness of the availability of contraception including emergency contraception, pregnancy options, and access to abortion information and services.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the young people who participated in the research and shared their views and experiences. And thank you to Professor Anthony Zwi, joint supervisor on the doctoral research from which the qualitative data were drawn.
JB undertook data collection, interview transcription, coding and preliminary analysis. All authors contributed to secondary analysis of interview data related to unintended pregnancy and abortion. JB and CN led the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors contributed to subsequent drafts. All authors revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Ethics approval
Ethics approval for the study was received from the Western Sydney Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee (approval #4407), the Family Planning NSW Ethics Committee (approval #R2015-02), and the ACON Research Ethics Review Committee (approval #2016/09). Informed consent was obtained from all participants in the study.
Notes
1 Health Act 1993 (ACT); Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 (NSW); Termination of Pregnancy Law Reform Act 2017 (NT); Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018 (QLD); Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA); Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Act 2013 (TAS); Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 (VIC); Health Act (Miscellaneous Provisions) 1911 (WA).
2 The lower abortion rate in remote areas may reflect issues regarding access to services and/or that women from more remote areas may be travelling to cities where services are more available.