A comparative study of 167 pregnant teenagers in Devon attending either antenatal booking clinics or for National Health Service (NHS) termination of pregnancy was carried out to determine differences in their characteristics, use and experience of local family planning services. Teenagers presenting for termination of pregnancy were younger and more likely to say that they had wished to avoid getting pregnant. Whether the teenager was in a stable relationship was strongly associated with the outcome of the pregnancy, with single girls being more likely to choose a termination of pregnancy. The termination of pregnancy group were also more likely to be condom users, and to have learned about their method of contraception from school rather than from health care professionals. Teenagers' frequency of contact with family planning services suggested that teenagers choosing a termination were less likely than antenatal attenders to have attended regularly. This was mainly due to differences in behaviour among teenagers attending their general practitioner (GP) for contraceptive advice: teenagers having a termination were more likely to describe their visit to their GP as embarrassing. These findings have implications for local family planning services attempting to reduce the number of unwanted teenage pregnancies.
PIP: 167 pregnant teenagers were interviewed in England to determine if those opting for abortion had different characteristics and patterns of use of local family planning (FP) services from those continuing their pregnancies. The teenagers were interviewed in 1 of 4 health districts during the period of August 1992 to January 1994. 95 of the teenagers had an abortion, and 72 were receiving prenatal care. It was found that the teenagers who chose abortion were significantly younger than the other group, were more likely to describe themselves as having tried to avoid pregnancy, were more likely to have relied on condoms for contraception, and were less likely to be involved in a stable relationship with a young man. Six of the teenagers receiving prenatal care had planned their pregnancies, and those planning to keep their babies were more likely to have used oral contraceptives. The teenagers choosing abortion were more likely to have received contraceptive information from a school teacher than from a clinic. These teenagers also found visiting a general practitioner to be embarrassing. With this confirmation of the study's broad hypothesis that differences exist between these two groups, more research is indicated to point out the relative importance of each difference as a factor in preventing unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.