Study to explore the real story on unplanned pregnancy and abortion
Media Release, Friday 18 November 2005
The real picture of women who abort unplanned pregnancies is expected to emerge from a new joint study to start next year in Melbourne.
The University of Melbourne, and The Royal Women’s Hospital have received a $236,000 Australian Research Council grant over three years for the project aimed at providing reliable data to improve service delivery and inform public debate and government policy. VicHealth is contributing $75,000 as a partner in this project.
Professor Doreen Rosenthal of the University of Melbourne’s Key Centre for Women’s Health in Society and one of the lead investigators on the project said there is a lack of reliable evidence about abortion and the factors contributing to the decision to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
“We will look at factors associated with unplanned pregnancy and decisions to terminate them including age, socio-cultural background, financial circumstances and mental health among others,” Professor Rosenthal said.
“This research should increase the understanding of health problems associated with unplanned pregnancies and contribute to the understanding of the circumstances of particular sub-populations of women having terminations.
“It will analyse the factors which contribute to barriers and reduced access to services such as homelessness, mental health and disabilities.”
Medicare claims for abortive procedures, including miscarriages, foetal death and other gynaecological conditions, between 1995 and 2004 average at about 75,700 per year with a decrease in numbers during this period. But this is believed to be an overestimate of the rate of abortion. A recent study also found that up to 34% of private non-hospital terminations were not recorded as Medicare claims.
“We hope to improve understanding of women’s service needs in order to provide best practice and identify factors such as geographic location which affect women’s access to pregnancy prevention and abortion services,” said Professor Rosenthal.
“The data collected will provide evidence to improve delivery of appropriate health services and strategies to prevent unplanned pregnancies and their adverse consequences,” said Professor Rosenthal.
More information
Professor Doreen Rosenthal
Key Centre for Women’s Health In Society
03 8344 4417
d.rosenthal@unimelb.edu.au
Amanda Tattam
Key Centre for Women’s Health In Society
03 8344 4416 or 0413 997 467
atattam@unimelb.edu.au
Louise Handran
Media liaison
The University of Melbourne
03 8344 0181
handrana@unimelb.edu.au
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