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Women’s experiences seeking informal sector abortion services in Cape Town, South Africa: a descriptive study

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Women's Health, October 2017
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (90th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (92nd percentile)

Mentioned by

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3 news outlets
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2 X users

Citations

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33 Dimensions

Readers on

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136 Mendeley
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Title
Women’s experiences seeking informal sector abortion services in Cape Town, South Africa: a descriptive study
Published in
BMC Women's Health, October 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12905-017-0443-6
Pubmed ID
Authors

Caitlin Gerdts, Sarah Raifman, Kristen Daskilewicz, Mariette Momberg, Sarah Roberts, Jane Harries

Abstract

In settings where abortion is legally restricted, or permitted but not widely accessible, women face significant barriers to abortion access, sometimes leading them to seek services outside legal facilities. The advent of medication abortion has further increased the prevalence of informal sector abortion. This study investigates the reasons for attempting self-induction, methods used, complications, and sources of information about informal sector abortion, and tests a specific recruitment method which could lead to improved estimates of informal sector abortion prevalence among an at-risk population. We recruited women who have sought informal sector abortion services in Cape Town, South Africa using respondent driven sampling (RDS). An initial seed recruiter was responsible for initiating recruitment using a structured coupon system. Participants completed face-to-face questionnaires, which included information about demographics, informal sector abortion seeking, and safe abortion access needs. We enrolled 42 women, nearly one-third of whom reported they were sex workers. Thirty-four women (81%) reported having had one informal sector abortion within the past 5 years, 14% reported having had two, and 5% reported having had three. These women consumed home remedies, herbal mixtures from traditional healers, or tablets from an unregistered provider. Twelve sought additional care for potential warning signs of complications. Privacy and fear of mistreatment at public sector facilities were among the main reported reasons for attempting informal sector abortion. Most women (67%) cited other community members as their source of information about informal sector abortion; posted signs and fliers in public spaces also served as an important source of information. Women are attempting informal sector abortion because they seek privacy and fear mistreatment and stigma in health facilities. Some were unaware how or where to seek formal sector services, or believed the cost was too high. Many informal methods are ineffective and unsafe, leading to potential warning signs of complications and continued pregnancy. Sex workers may be at particular risk of unsafe abortion. Based on these results, it is essential that future studies sample women outside of the formal health sector. The use of innovative sampling methods would greatly improve our knowledge about informal sector abortion in South Africa.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 136 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 136 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 30 22%
Researcher 15 11%
Student > Ph. D. Student 15 11%
Student > Bachelor 10 7%
Student > Postgraduate 7 5%
Other 19 14%
Unknown 40 29%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 22 16%
Social Sciences 21 15%
Medicine and Dentistry 17 13%
Psychology 6 4%
Arts and Humanities 5 4%
Other 20 15%
Unknown 45 33%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 25. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 June 2022.
All research outputs
#1,457,219
of 24,593,959 outputs
Outputs from BMC Women's Health
#125
of 2,159 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#29,542
of 327,660 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Women's Health
#4
of 40 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,593,959 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 94th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,159 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.6. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 327,660 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 90% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 40 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.