Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Health Services

Advisor

Chinaro Kennedy

Abstract

Abortion has been a public health issue since the procedure became legal 47 years ago and, clinicians have performed 60,069,971 abortions from 1973 to 2017 in the United States. In 2014, a significant decline in abortion rates has been recorded in almost every state, as well as across different subpopulations when segregated by age, race/ethnicity, education, income, or geographic locations. However, abortion rates were still significantly higher among Black women relative to the U.S. average, prompting the need to examine the causes of this disparity. The main purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate and determine the sociodemographic causing factors of the relatively high rates of abortions among Black women recorded in 2014 in the United States. This study was grounded on the decision theory (the theory of choice), put forth in 1670 by Blaise, which encompasses the reasoning that underlies an individual’s choice. Secondary data from the abortion rates of 15 to 19-year-old Black women in 2014 were collected for this quantitative study from the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) database. I then condensed the number of abortions in every 1,000 women to every 100 women, which resulted in a sample size of 3,200 Black women, who have had at least 1 abortion in 2014. The data analytic procedures included a frequency analysis, a cross-tabulation, a Chi-square test, an independent samples t-test, and a simple Logistic regression to determine the causing factors of abortion among black women in the United States. The results showed that abortion rates were high in high school women, single women, urban residing women, and nonreligious women. The findings of this research study can create awareness, so I recommend it to public health leaders who can now educate young women in our communities about abortion long before they become pregnant; hence, abortion rates can decrease which can result in economic growth, socio-economic development, promotion of public health, and positive social change

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