A study on why women have later abortion, published by the University of Southampton, revealed four key issues:

• Much of the delay occurs prior to women requesting an abortion
• Women have concerns about what is involved in having the abortion
• Various aspects of women’s relationships with their partners and/or parents play a role in delays in women’s decision-making
• After requesting an abortion, delays are partly service-related (e.g. waiting for an appointment) and partly ’woman- related’ (e.g. missing or cancelling appointments.)

The report is available to download from

www.psychology.soton.ac.uk/cshr