2.3. Abortion decision difficulty
The items preabortion doubt (“To what extent did you
have doubts regarding the abortion?”) and experienced
pressure [“To what extent did you experience pressure of
others (e.g., partner, family) to have an abortion?”] were
measured with a 5-point scale (from not at all to to very
large extent, middle category moderate). The reverse-scored
item postabortion decision uncertainty (“To what extent do
you stand by your abortion decision?”) was also measured
with a 5-point scale (from I don’t stand by it at all to I
completely stand by it, middle category neutral). Because
women who experience difficulties were of particular
concern, we dichotomized both doubt and decision uncertainty
into low=0 (including the middle category) and high=
1. For experienced pressure we included the middle category
moderate in the high=1 group, because most women did not
experience any pressure.
2.4. Experienced burden
The first item focused on the abortion treatment itself
(“Looking back at the abortion, to what extent did you find the
abortion treatment itself — not the unintended pregnancy —
emotionally burdensome?”) and the second item on the
unintended pregnancy (“And to what extent did you find the
unintended pregnancy emotionally burdensome?”). Dichotomization
of answer categories was the same as for doubt.