Women’s perspectives on abortion and spirituality in Turkey

Abstract

To investigate the opinions of women residing in Turkey regarding abortion and its correlation with spirituality. A descriptive and cross-sectional study. The study included 487 women and data was collected between October and December 2023. The Descriptive Information Form, Stigmatizing Attitudes, Beliefs and Actions Scale (SABAS), and Spirituality Scale (SS) were used to evaluate the data and determine the correlation between them. Of the women surveyed, 78.6% reported no prior experience with curettage. The participants had low SABAS scores (26.95 ± 7.43) and high SS scores (22.50 ± 5.80). Age, education, employment status, religious affiliation, history of curettage, age at first childbirth, number of children, and number of siblings were all significantly correlated with SABAS and SS (p < 0.05). Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found between the participants’ SABAS total score and all sub-factor scores, as well as their SS total scores. It was also determined that as women’s stigmatization and negative attitudes towards curettage increased, their spiritual feelings increased as well (p < 0.05). A significant positive correlation was found between SS score and age and SABAS, and a negative correlation was found with the number of births (p < 0.05). It was found that women’s stigmatizing attitudes towards abortion were influenced by their spiritual beliefs. To prevent women from being caught between the consequences of unwanted pregnancies and their spiritual beliefs, it is important to meet their needs for family planning and health counseling.