Data report – Survey on access to abortion in the ACT and surrounding regions
 2022

Contents
About Women’s Health Matters
About this data report
Qualifying questions
Able or unable to have an abortion in ACT/region?
Those who were able to have an abortion in ACT/region
When had abortion
Temporary visa
Type of abortion
Type of abortion by time since abortion
Gestation
Satisfaction with ability to access abortion
Services used to seek an abortion
Professionals/services consulted with to have an abortion
Challenges experienced with accessing services needed to have abortion
Rating safety around abortion facilities
How safe around abortion facility by time since abortion
Rating amount of time professionals spent
Rating whether treated with compassion, dignity & respect
Rating whether services respected culture, identity, beliefs & choices
Rating how comfortable speaking with professionals about options
Rating how adequate information given about choices was
Rating how well services checked in following procedure
How well services checked in, by time since abortion
What worked well with support received
What did not work well with support received
Preferred a different type of abortion
Those who tried but were unable to have an abortion
When attempted to have abortion
Temporary visa
Main reasons unable to have abortion in ACT/region
Travelled outside ACT/region to have abortion
What would make it easier to access abortion in ACT
Demographics
Gender
Gender assigned at birth
Intersex status
Age
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people
Disability
Sexual orientation
Preferred language
Migrant background/asylum-seeking or refugee background/temporary visa holding
Employment/student status

About Women’s Health Matters
Women’s Health Matters (WHM) is an independent, non-partisan think tank that works to improve the health and wellbeing of all women in the ACT and surrounding region. We seek to improve access to health information and enhance knowledge and understanding about the causes of health and illness among anyone who identifies as a woman.
We advocate on behalf of all ACT women, especially those experiencing disadvantage and vulnerability. We want women to feel in control of and understand the determinants of their own health and wellbeing.
We do this through health promotion and by providing evidence-based social research, policy development and advocacy services to governments, the corporate sector, policy makers, service providers and peak bodies.
About this data report
In 2022, Women’s Health Matters conducted a community survey to help inform our submission to the Inquiry into abortion and reproductive choice in the ACT. The online survey was open from the 25th of July to the 10th of August 2022 and collected 102 responses from women and people with uteruses who had accessed or tried to access an abortion in the ACT or surrounding region.
This document presents data from the survey. It should be read in conjunction with the submission, which is available here: https://www.womenshealthmatters.org.au/resources/submissions/   Discussion and analysis of the survey data is included in the submission, rather than in this document. 
To aid interpretation of the data, in this report some notes are provided about the logic of the survey, e.g. where a respondent might skip questions or be directed to complete particular sections based on their previous answers.

Qualifying questions
Qualifying questions asked 1) ‘Are you aged 18 years or older?’ and 2) ‘Have you ever tried to access an abortion for yourself in the ACT or surrounding region?’
102 respondents met the qualification criteria and went on to complete the survey.
Able or unable to have an abortion in ACT/region?
Q3
Have you been able to have an abortion in the ACT or surrounding regions?
	Percentage	Number	
Yes	88%	90	
No	12%	12	
Logic: If No, skip to Q18

Those who were able to have an abortion in ACT/region

When had abortion
Q4
Thinking about your most recent or only abortion, when did you have the abortion?
In the last 3 years	26%	23	
More than 3 years but less than 10 years	37%	33	
More than 10 years but less than 20 years	23%	21	
More than 20 years ago		14%	13	
TOTAL		90	

Temporary visa
Q5
At the time of this abortion, were you on a temporary visa?
None of the respondents answered yes to this question. 

Type of abortion
Q6
What kind of abortion did you have?
	Percentage	Number	
Surgical abortion (in a clinic or hospital)	74%	67	
Medical abortion (taking medication at/after a face-to-face consultation with a doctor/health professional)	24%	22	
Medical abortion by phone (taking medication after only a phone or tele-consultation with a doctor/health professional)	1%	1	
Other (please specify)	0%	0	
TOTAL	100%	90	

Type of abortion by time since abortion
	Surgical	Medical (appt)	Medical (ph)	Total	
Last 3 years	11	48%	11	48%	1	4%	23	26%	
4-10 years	24	73%	9	27%	0	0%	33	37%	
11-20 years	20	95%	1	5%	0	0%	21	23%	
20+ years	12	92%	1	8%	0	0%	13	14%	
TOTALS	67	74%	22	24%	1	1%	90	100%	

Gestation
Q7
To the best of your knowledge how many weeks pregnant were you at the time of your abortion?
	Percentage	Number	
0-9 weeks	78%	70	
10-16 weeks	22%	20	
16+ weeks	0%	0	
Total	100%	90	

Satisfaction with ability to access abortion
Q8
How satisfied were you with your ability to access an abortion?
	Percentage	Number	
Very dissatisfied	1%	1	
Dissatisfied	13%	11	
Quite satisfied	33%	30	
Very satisfied	16%	14	
Extremely satisfied 	38%	34	
Total	101%*	90	
*Does not add to 100% due to rounding

Services used to seek an abortion
Q9
Did you use any of the following services to seek an abortion? (Select all that apply)
	Percentage	Number	
An abortion clinic	50%	45	
A sexual health and/or family planning clinic	27%	24	
A women's health service	13%	12	
Pathology (e.g. blood tests)	9%	8	
A public hospital	78%	7	
A pharmacy	6%	5	
Radiology (e.g. ultrasound)	6%	5	
Telehealth	4%	4	
A private hospital	2%	2	
A youth health clinic	1%	1	
Other (please specify)	11%	10	
Other services mentioned were: Aboriginal Medical Service, Marie Stopes, Obstetrician, Psychologist and GP/GP Clinic.

Professionals/services consulted with to have an abortion
Q10
Did you consult any of the following services to have an abortion? (Select all that apply)
	Percentage	Number	
Your regular general practitioner (GP)	46%	41	
Another GP	14%	13	
A gynaecologist or obstetrician	11%	10	
A community nurse, practice nurse or nurse practitioner	8%	7	
A psychologist, counsellor or other mental health worker	6%	5	
An emergency doctor	1%	1	
A pharmacist	0%	0	
A midwife	0%	0	
Other (please specify)	31%	28	
Other responses recorded included: Marie Stopes, Radiologist, Doctor at abortion clinic, General surgeon, Sexual health clinic. 

Why used those services
Q11
Please tell us why these services were the ones you used?
This was an optional open text question. Please refer to our submission for summary and analysis of free text answers in the survey. 

Challenges experienced with accessing services needed to have abortion
Q12 
Did you experience any challenges with accessing the services you needed to have an abortion? (Select all that apply)
	Percentage	Number	
I did not experience any challenges	16%	14	
Medications/tests/appointments/procedures were expensive	41%	37	
I had trouble finding appointments	18%	16	
I was worried about my privacy 	17%	15	
I had trouble taking time off work or study	14%	13	
I experienced judgement or stigma from my healthcare providers 	13%	12	
I had trouble taking time away from caring responsibilities	12%	11	
It was difficult to find information about services I needed	12%	11	
Appointments were far away or took a long time to get to	9%	8	
Health providers refused or chose not to help me	6%	5	
It was expensive to travel to appointments	6%	5	
I was in a violent relationship 	4%	4	
The COVID-19 pandemic made it harder to get services	3%	3	
The gestation of my pregnancy made it difficult to access services	2%	2	
A partner or family member was making it hard for me to use services	1%	1	
Service providers were not culturally appropriate	0%	0	
Service providers were not LGBTIQ+ inclusive	0%	0	
Service providers were disability inclusive/accessible	0%	0	
Other challenges (please describe)	40%	36	
Other challenges mentioned included: concerns about protestors harassing people outside the abortion clinic; difficulty finding a pharmacy that stocked the medication, support person not being able to stay, rudeness and insensitivity from medical staff, discrimination based on weight, being a single parent on a low income, lack of appointments (including over public holidays) delaying procedure and limiting options, expensiveness, difficult accessing private options, COVID-19 creating worry about appointment delays, difficulty estimating gestation, religious beliefs of the private hospital, time-consuming, difficulty finding information online, lack of impartial counselling about options.

Q13
How would you rate your experiences with the services you accessed to have an abortion?
Rating safety around abortion facilities
How safe you felt around abortion facilities	
	
	Percentage	Number	
Very poor	0%	0	
Poor	3%	3	
Fair	19%	17	
Good	24%	22	
Excellent	50%	45	
N/A	3%	3	
Total 	99%*	90	
* Total does not add to 100% due to rounding

How safe around abortion facility by time since abortion
	Very poor	Poor	Poor + v. poor	Fair	Good	Excellent	Good +Exc	N/A	Total	
Last 3 years	0	0%	1	4%	1	4%	4	17%	4	17%	12	52%	16	70%	2	%	23	
4-10 years	0	0%	2	6%	2	6%	6	18%	6	18%	18	55%	24	73%	1		33	
11-20 years	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	5	24%	7	33%	9	43%	16	76%	0	0%	21	
20+ years	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	2	15%	5	38%	6	46%	11	85%	0	0%	13	

Rating amount of time professionals spent
The amount of time health professionals spent with you		 
	Percentage	Number	
Very poor	3%	3	
Poor	9%	8	
Fair	14%	13	
Good	40%	36	
Excellent	33%	30	
N/A	0%	0	
Total 	99%*	90	
* Total does not add to 100% due to rounding

Rating whether treated with compassion, dignity & respect 
Whether the health services treated you with compassion, dignity and respect		
	Percentage	Number	
Very poor	6%	5	
Poor	4%	4	
Fair	18%	16	
Good	22%	20	
Excellent	49%	44	
N/A	1%	1	
Total 	100%	90	

Rating whether services respected culture, identity, beliefs & choices
Whether the health services respected your culture, identity, beliefs and choices		
	Percentage	Number	
Very poor	4%	4	
Poor	3%	3	
Fair	9%	8	
Good	21%	19	
Excellent	46%	41	
N/A	17%	15	
Total 	100%	90	

Rating how comfortable speaking with professionals about options
How comfortable you were speaking with professionals about options available to you		
	Percentage	Number	
Very poor	4%	4	
Poor	7%	6	
Fair	16%	14	
Good	36%	32	
Excellent	38%	34	
N/A	0%	0	
Total 	101%*	90	
* Total does not sum to 100% due to rounding

Rating how adequate information given about choices was
How adequate the information given to you about your reproductive choices was	
	Percentage	Number	
Very poor	3%	3	
Poor	7%	6	
Fair	19%	17	
Good	28%	25	
Excellent	40%	36	
N/A or no response	3%	3	
Total 	100%	90	

Rating how well services checked in following procedure
How well the services checked in on you following the procedure		
	Percentage	Number	
Very poor	18%	16	
Poor	13%	12	
Fair	28%	25	
Good	18%	16	
Excellent	15%	13	
N/A or no response	9%	8	
Total 	101%*	90	
* Total does not add to 100% due to rounding

How well services checked in, by time since abortion
	Very poor	Poor	Poor + v poor	Fair	Good	Excellent	Good +Exc	N/A or no answer	Total	
Last 3 years	3	14%	3	14%	6	27%	5	23%	7	32%	3	14%	10	45%	1	5%	22	
4-10 years	7	22%	2	6%	9	28%	9	28%	4	13%	7	22%	11	34%	3	9%	32	
11-20 years	1	5%	5	26%	6	32%	7	37%	4	21%	2	11%	8	42%	0	0%	19	
20+ years	2	15%	1	8%	3	23%	4	31%	1	8%	1	8%	2	15%	4	31%	13	

What worked well with support received
Q14
Please tell us what worked well for you with the support you received? (optional free text answer)
When we asked people who had an abortion what worked well with the support they received, the most widely cited factor was kind, compassionate, non-judgemental and competent care by medical professionals. 
Further discussion and analysis of free text answers is available in our submission.

What did not work well with support received
Q15
Please tell us what did not work well for you with the support you received? (optional free text answer)
When we asked people what did not work well with the support they received when having an abortion, the issue most commonly mentioned was the lack of follow-up and checking in on wellbeing, together with experiences of practitioners and systems being cold, impersonal and uncompassionate. 
Further discussion and analysis of free text answers is available in our submission.
Preferred a different type of abortion
Q16
Thinking about the different types of abortion (surgical, medical, medical by phone) would you have preferred to have a different type if it was accessible to you?
	Percentage	Number	
No	71%	64	
Yes 	29%	26	
Total	100%	90	

If yes, please tell us more (optional free text answers):
The majority (n=16) of people who said they would have preferred another type of abortion were people who had a surgical abortion but said they would have preferred a medical abortion. People who expanded on why they would have preferred a medical abortion noted factors such as convenience and the procedure being “less intrusive”. Most of the respondents who said they would have preferred a medical abortion had their surgical abortion more than 10 years ago, and many of these noted that a medical abortion was not an option at the time. 
Five people who had medical abortions said they would have preferred a surgical abortion (four of these took medication at/after a face-to-face consultation with a doctor/health professional, while one had medical abortion after telehealth consultation). Several indicated that they had adverse outcomes and/or negative experiences with the process.
Three of the four people who had negative experiences with medical abortions said that they were not provided enough information about the process and possible effects of medical abortion.
Further discussion and analysis of free text answers is available in our submission.

Those who tried but were unable to have an abortion 
Q18
Twelve (12) people who responded to the survey had tried but been unable to have an abortion in the ACT or surrounding regions. 
When attempted to have abortion
Thinking about your most recent or only attempt to have an abortion, when was this?
	Percentage	Number	
In the last 3 years	38%	4	
More than 3 years but less than 10 years	38%	4	
More than 10 years but less than 20 years 	13%	1	
More than 20 years ago	13%	3	
Total	101%*	12	
* Total does not add to 100% due to rounding

Temporary visa
Q19
At the time when you attempted to have an abortion, were you on a temporary visa?
No respondents answered yes to this question.

Main reasons unable to have abortion in ACT/region
Q20
What were the main reasons why you were unable to have an abortion in the ACT/region? (Select all that apply)
	Percentage	Number	
Health providers refused or chose not to help me	42%	5	
Medication/tests/procedure/appointments were too expensive	33%	4	
The gestation of my pregnancy limited the services I could access 	33%	4	
I experienced judgement or stigma from my healthcare providers 	25%	3	
Appointments were too far away or took a long time to get to	25%	3	
I was in a violent relationship 	25%	3	
I had too much trouble finding appointments	25%	3	
A partner or family member made it hard for me to use services	8%	1	
I was worried about my privacy 	8%	1	
I couldn't take time away from caring responsibilities	8%	1	
It was too difficult to find information about services I needed	8%	1	
Service providers were not culturally appropriate	0%	0	
Service providers were not LGBTIQ+ inclusive	0%	0	
Service providers were not disability inclusive/accessible	0%	0	
I couldn't take time off work or study	0%	0	
It was too expensive to travel to appointments	0%	0	
The COVID-19 pandemic made it too hard to get services	0%	0	
Other challenges (please describe)	42%	5	
Other challenges/reasons described included: the lack of available services and medications in the ACT, miscarriage, cost, need to wait for ultrasound. 

Travelled outside ACT/region to have abortion
Q21
In the last 3 years, have you travelled outside of the ACT/region to have an abortion?
	Percentage	Number	
No 	92%	11	
Yes 	8%	1	
Total	100%	12	
If yes, please tell us why: Unable to get appointment.

What would make it easier to access abortion in ACT
Q22 
Both those who had and those who were unable to have an abortion in the ACT were asked what would improve access to abortion in the ACT (optional free text answer).
The most commonly recommended measures were:
•	Those to address the cost of abortion, 
•	Followed by measures to improve information about options, community education and help with navigating services. 
•	Many respondents also mentioned the need for dedicated services to be provided at different locations, with greater availability of appointments in a timely way. 
•	Many also mentioned the need for professionals to be more non-judgmental and supportive.

Demographics
All 102 respondents answered the demographic questions.

Gender
Q23 
How do you describe your gender?
	Percentage	Number	
Woman or female	99%	101	
Man or male	0%	0	
Non-binary	1%	1	
Prefer not to answer 	0%	0	
I use a different term (please specify) 	0%	0	
Total	100%	102	

Gender assigned at birth
Q24
At birth were you recorded as? Options were: Female, Male, Prefer not to answer, Another term (please specify)
All respondents answered that they were recorded as female. 

Intersex status
Q25
Were you born with a variation of sex characteristics (sometimes called 'intersex')?
	Percentage	Number	
Yes	1%	1	
No	99%	101	
Don’t know	0%	0	
Prefer not to answer	0%	0	
Total	100%	102	

Age
Q26
What is your age?
	Percentage	Number	
18 - 24 years of age	9%	9	
25 - 34 years of age	26%	27	
35 -44 years of age	40%	41	
45 - 54 years of age	14%	14	
55 - 64 years of age	7%	7	
65 years or over	3%	3	
Prefer not to answer	1%	1	
Total	100%	102	

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people
Q27
Are you an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person?
Aboriginal 	9%	9	
Torres Strait Islander	0%	0	
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander	0%	0	
Neither 	90%	92	
Prefer not to answer	1%	1	
Total	100%	102	

Disability
Q28
Are you a person with disability or disabilities?
			
Yes	11%	11	
No	87%	89	
Prefer not to answer	2%	2	
Total	100%	102	

Sexual orientation
Q29
How do you describe your sexual orientation?
Straight (heterosexual)	79%	81	
Gay or lesbian	0.00%	0	
Bisexual	15%	15	
Don't know	2%	2	
Prefer not to answer 	1%	1	
I use a different term (please specify)	3%	3	
Total	100%	102	
Different terms specified were: Queer, Pansexual

Preferred language
Q30
What is your preferred language?
	Percentage	Number	
English 	99%	101	
Mandarin	1%	1	
Nepali	0%	0	
Vietnamese	0%	0	
Punjabi	0%	0	
An Aboriginal language (please specify)	0%	0	
A Torres Strait language (please specify)	0%	0	
Total	100%	102	

Migrant background/asylum-seeking or refugee background/temporary visa holding
Q31
Do you identify as being from one or more of these backgrounds? (Select all that apply) Options listed were: Migrant background, Refugee or asylum seeker background, Temporary visa holder
Fourteen (14, 14%) respondents indicated that they were of migrant background. None indicated that they were of refugee or asylum seeker backgrounds or were temporary visa holders.

Employment/student status
Q32
Thinking about the last time you had or tried to have an abortion, what was your employment status?
	Percentage	Number	
Employed full-time	53%	54	
Employed part-time	15%	15	
Employed casually	10%	10	
Student 	6%	6	
Unemployed and looking for work 	3%	3	
Unemployed and not looking for work	3%	3	
Self-employed	2%	2	
Unable to work	2%	2	
Retired	0%	0	
Other (please specify)	7%	7	
Total	101%*	102	
*Does not add to 100% due to rounding
Other employment statuses specified included: on maternity leave, not working due to caring responsibilities, employed and a student, disability pensioner.

How difficult to manage on income
Q33
Thinking about the last time you had or tried to have an abortion, how difficult was it to manage on your income?
	Percentage	Number	
Very easy	24%	25	
Not bad 	25%	26	
Difficult sometimes	36%	37	
Difficult always/impossible	14%	14	
Total	99%*	102	
*Does not add to 100% due to rounding