BACKGROUND:
Little is known about women's experiences with and reactions to protesters and how protesters affect women's emotional responses to abortion.
STUDY DESIGN:
We interviewed 956 women seeking abortion between 2008 and 2010 at 30 U.S. abortion care facilities and informants from 27 of these facilities.
RESULTS:
Most facilities reported a regular protester presence; one third identified protesters as aggressive towards patients. Nearly half (46%) of women interviewed saw protesters; of those, 25% reported being "a little" upset, and 16% reported being "quite a lot" or "extremely" upset. Women who had difficulty deciding to abort had higher odds of reporting being upset by protesters. In multivariable models, exposure to protesters was not associated with differences in emotions 1 week after the abortion.
CONCLUSION:
Protesters do upset some women seeking abortion services. However, exposure to protesters does not seem to have an effect on women's emotions about the abortion 1 week later.