Investigation into the Relationship Between Women's Thoughts, Stigmatizing Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors on Voluntary Abortion and Spiritual Well-Being in Turkiye.

Abstract

Introduction: Although abortion can be implemented within the framework of legal rules and practices, the issue of abortion in socio-cultural, philosophical, and religious terms is one of the crucial issues that has been discussed since the existence of humanity. This study aims to examine the relationship between women's thoughts on voluntary abortion, their stigmatizing attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and their spiritual well-being in Turkiye.

Method: The sample of this analytical-cross-sectional study consisted of 300 women between the ages of 18 to 49 who had a telephone. Data were collected with the "Questionnaire Form, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Spirituality Well-Being (FACIT-Sp), and the Stigmatizing Attitudes, Beliefs and Actions Scale Toward Abortion (SABAS)."

Results: The findings showed that 30.3% of the women participating in this study had voluntary abortions. The FACIT-Sp total score of women who had voluntary abortion (12.58 ± 7.99) was significantly lower than those who did not have an abortion (29.02 ± 6.36), and the SABAS total score was not associated with having a voluntary abortion. A weak, positive linear relationship was found between FACIT-Sp and SABAS total scores (r = .115, p < .05).

Discussion: Study findings showed that there was a significant relationship between having had a voluntary abortion and a lower spiritual well-being score and there was a positive relationship between spiritual well-being and stigmatizing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors toward abortion.