The decision to have an abortion from both partners’ perspectives: a dyadic analysis

Abstract

Objectives: Male partners are often involved in induced abortion although they have no legal rights. It is, however, unknown how women’s thoughts and feelings regarding the decision for abortion are associated with the decisional experiences of the involved male partners and vice versa.

Methods: Flemish women and their involved male partners (IMP) filled out a questionnaire on abortion motives and feelings of decisiveness in the abortion centre waiting room (N = 106 couples). Actor Partner Interdependence Models investigated whether the decisiveness of one partner was associated with a subjective feeling of autonomy (high internal, low external abortion motivation) and decisiveness of the other partner, above and beyond the own feeling of autonomy and personal vulnerabilities for being uncertain.

Results: Partner congruence in motivation and decisiveness was substantial (r= 0.23 to 0.42), especially for cohabiting partners. The IMPs were less internally motivated for the abortion than the women but both partners reported more internal than external motives, and they both tended to feel certain. In contrast to the women, a higher subjective feeling of autonomy in the IMPs was not associated with feeling more certain. When accounting for partners’ living situation, levels of uncertainty were not only associated with personal vulnerabilities for being uncertain, but were also related to the degree of uncertainty and subjective level of autonomy of the other partner.

Conclusions: Partners’ thoughts and feelings regarding the decision for abortion partially have an interpersonal basis and mostly run parallel despite an inherent gender difference in level and importance of decision autonomy.

Chinese abstract

目的：男性伴侣经常参与人工流产虽然他们没有合法的权利。然而尚不清楚女性关于流产决定的想法和感受与相关男性伴侣参与决策的经历有关, 反之亦然。

方法：佛兰德地区妇女和她们的相关男性伴侣(IMP)填写一项调查表, 关于在流产中心等候室决定流产的动机和感受(N = 106 对情侣)。男演员同伴相互依存模型研究是否一方的决断力与自主性的主观感受（高内部、低外部流产动机）和另一方的决断力有关, 高于或低于自主主观感觉和不确定的个人弱点。

结果：很多伴侣动机和决断力一致（r = 0.23 至0.42）, 尤其是同居生活的伴侣。相关男性伴侣比女性有更少的流产内部动机, 但是双方均有更多的内部动机相比于外部动机, 都倾向于感受确定性。与女性相比, 男性伴侣更高的自主主观感受与感觉更确定无关。当对伴侣的生活情况负有责任时, 不确定的水平不仅与不确定的个人弱点有关, 也与另一方的不确定性程度和自主性的主观水平有关。

结论：伴侣关于决定流产的想法和感受有一个人际关系的基础, 主要是并行关系, 尽管存在固有的性别差异水平和决策自主权的重要性。

Keywords:

• Abortion
• male partners
• autonomy
• decisiveness

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the staff of the five Flemish LUNA abortion centers for recruiting the participants. The authors especially thank Carine Vrancken, Lut Daniëls, Anne Verougstraete, Francoise Dedrie and Sven Todts for their significant contributions to the study. This study was supported by the FWO Vlaanderen.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.