Experiences of Women regarding Accessibility of Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Services in Northwest Province, South Africa

Poor access to choose on termination of pregnancy services remains a disturbing health challenge to women, mostly in developing countries. In rural provinces of South Africa, this hurdle is manifested by, amongst others, fear of stigmatisation and failure to access the services due to a lack of trained staff and transport.

This study is designed to explore and describe women’s experiences regarding access to choice on termination of pregnancy services, subsequently describing recommendations to improve access to choice of termination of pregnancy in a sub-district of Northwest province of South Africa.

A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used to assess the experiences of women regarding access to termination of pregnancy services. The population included women of childbearing age with a history of legal or illegal termination of pregnancy at selected public health care facilities. Purposive sampling was used to identify participants for the study, and 10 women were interviewed using unstructured in-depth face-to-face individual interviews. All ethical principles were adhered to throughout the study, and thematic analysis with six phases was utilised in evaluating the data generated.

Difficulties in accessing choice of termination of pregnancy services and strategies for improvement of accessibility emerged as the two themes. Amongst others, pervasive negative attitudes of nurses, fear of stigma, and lack of psychological and social support were reported as cumbersome experiences in trying to access the service. To improve access, women recommended that more nurses should be trained and deployed to render choice of termination of pregnancy services to women. They also recommended advertising choice of termination of pregnancy services available on various platforms.

Based on the findings, women in the North West Province face challenges in accessing Choice of Termination of Pregnancy services.