Objectives: The United States Code of Federal Regulations mandates extra protections for research involving pregnant participants seeking abortions. This study aims to understand the perspectives of abortion patients regarding recruitment, decision-making, and participation in research.
Study design: We recruited adults in Hawai'i who reported at least one induced abortion in the previous 6 months. Recruitment strategies included online advertisements and flyers posted in reproductive health clinics. We conducted in-person, semistructured interviews exploring research preferences. The authors collaboratively reviewed the resulting transcripts and created a code dictionary. We reviewed, organized, condensed, and diagrammed the resulting data to identify dominant themes.
Results: Between February and November 2019, we interviewed 25 participants aged 18-41 years who had medication (n = 14) or procedural (n = 11) abortions. Interviews ranged from 32 to 77 minutes (mean = 48 minutes). Four themes emerged: (1) people having abortions are capable of making informed decisions about research participation, (2) abortion-related stigma influences research decision-making, (3) people having abortions prefer to learn about study opportunities early and through participant-driven recruitment methods, and (4) the ideal role of the abortion provider in research is unclear.
Conclusions: Abortion patients in this study want to be informed of research opportunities and feel capable of deciding about participation in research studies. Current federally mandated protections and common research practices could be revisited and revised to better reflect these preferences.
Implications: Revision of federal regulations and optimization of recruitment methods may allow researchers to improve the research experience for patients having an abortion.
Keywords: Abortion; Pregnancy; Research ethics; Vulnerable populations.
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