International Family Planning Perspectives
Volume 28, Number 4, December 2002

 

Knowledge and Opinions About Abortion Law Among Mexican Youth
TABLES



TABLE 1. Percentage distribution of respondents to survey on knowledge and opinions about emergency contraception and abortion, by selected characteristics, Mexico, 2000
Characteristic %
(N=907)
Characteristic %
(N=907)
Sex Attendance at religious services
Male 47 >=once a week 41
Female 53 <once a week 59
Age Religious identification
15-17 33 Catholic 73
18-24 67 Other 8
Marital status Not religious 19
Never-married 77 Registered to vote
Consensual union 5 Yes 54
Married 17 No 14
Divorced/separated 1 Not eligible 33
Parity Political party identification
0 78 PAN† 28
1 14 Other 21
>=2 7 None 16
Missing 1 Not eligible to vote 33
Education Missing 3
<complete elementary 13 Knows someone who has had an abortion
Some/complete middle school 27 Yes 20
Some/complete technical high school No 5 79
Some/complete preparatory high school 32 Knows someone who has used emergency contraceptive pills
>high school 23 Yes 8
Is employed No 92
Yes 87 Missing 1
No 13 Prior knowledge about emergency contraceptive pills
Region Yes 37
Pacific North 8 No 63
North Central Gulf 14 Knows the legal status of abortion
Bajio 16 Yes 46
Central 19 No 54
Mexico City 20 Attitude toward emergency contraceptive pills
Southeast 22 Liberal 91
Residence Conservative 9
Urban 76 Total 100
Rural 24
Total 100
†PAN is the National Action Party.

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TABLE 2. Odds ratios (and 95% confidence intervals) from univariate and multivariate analyses of the association between selected characteristics and the likelihood of having information that abortion is legal in one's state
Characteristic Univariate Multivariate
Odds ratio p-value Odds ratio p-value
Education   <0.0001   0.0003
<complete elementary 0.33 (0.21-0.53)   0.48 (0.29-0.81)  
Some/complete middle school 0.34 (0.23-0.50)   0.41 (0.27-0.61)  
Some/complete technical high school 0.40 (0.20-0.80)   0.50 (0.24-1.03)  
Some/complete preparatory high school 0.64 (0.45-0.92)   0.65 (0.45-0.95)  
>high school (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Region   <0.0001   <0.0001
Pacific North 0.61 (0.35-1.05)   0.69 (0.39-1.22)  
North Central Gulf 0.30 (0.19-0.47)   0.31 (0.19-0.51)  
Bajio 0.31 (0.20-0.49)   0.37 (0.23-0.60)  
Central 0.23 (0.15-0.36)   0.26 (0.16-0.41)  
Mexico City (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Southeast 0.61 (0.40-0.92)   0.75 (0.48-1.16)  
Residence   <0.0001   0.0029
Urban (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Rural 0.46 (0.33-0.63)   0.57 (0.39-0.83)  
Attitude toward emergency contraceptive pills   0.0030   0.0062
Liberal 2.08 (1.26-3.43)   2.16 (1.28-3.67)  
Conservative (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Age
15-17 0.83 (0.63-1.10) 0.1899 na  
18-24 (ref) 1.00   na  
Prior knowledge about emergency contraceptive pills   0.0046    
Yes   1.48 (1.13-1.94) na  
No (ref) 1.00   na  
Attendance at religious services   0.0086    
>=once a week 0.70 (0.54-0.91)   na  
<once a week (ref) 1.00   na  
Knows someone who has had an abortion   0.0463    
Yes 1.39 (1.01-1.92)   na  
No (ref) 1.00   na  
Sex   0.1411    
Male (ref) 1.00   na  
Female 1.22 (0.94-1.58)   na  
Knows someone who has used emergency contraceptive pills   0.1626    
Yes 1.41 (0.87-2.29)   na  
No (ref) 1.00   na  
Notes: All p-values are from the likelihood ratio test. ref=reference group. na=not applicable, because variable was not included in the model.

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TABLE 3. Percentage of states allowing abortion in various circumstances, and percentage of respondents supporting legal abortion in each circumstance, by region
Circumstance States allowing abortion
(N=25)†
Respondents supporting legal abortion
All regions Pacific North North Central Gulf Bajio Central Mexico City Southeast
(N=907) (N=75) (N=131) (N=148) (N=168) (N=182) (N=203)
Pregnancy is the result of a rape*** 100 70 76 58 65 79 80 64
Woman's life is at risk* 84 83 95 75 82 86 84 81
Woman's health is in danger 36 77 85 73 73 77 76 78
Fetus has birth defects*** 36 50 63 43 42 48 61 46
Economic reasons*** 4 19 11 21 11 21 30 14
Woman is single** 0 13 10 9 8 10 21 13
Woman is a minor* 0 22 15 21 14 22 27 26
Pregnancy resulted from contraceptive failure* 0 11 10 13 5 10 17 10
On request** 0 20 14 18 13 24 28 20
*p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001. †Excludes the six states not represented in the sample; includes the Federal District. Note: p-values are from chi-square test on the variable region as a whole.

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TABLE 4. Odds ratios (and 95% confidence intervals) from univariate and multivariate analyses of the association between selected characteristics and the likelihood of having conservative, rather than moderate, opinions about abortion
Characteristic Univariate Multivariate
Odds ratio p-value Odds ratio p-value
Knows the legal status of abortion   0.0006   0.1100
Yes 0.60 (0.44-0.80)   0.73 (0.52-1.01)  
No (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Education   <0.0001   0.0092
<complete elementary 4.00 (2.38-6.72)   2.88 (1.59-5.21)  
Some/complete middle school 2.46 (1.58-3.83)   2.03 (1.24-3.33)  
Some/complete technical high school 2.37 (1.11-5.05)   1.98 (0.89-4.38)  
Some/complete preparatory high school 1.67 (1.09-2.58)   1.56 (0.99-2.45)  
>high school (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Residence   <0.0001   0.0140
Urban (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Rural 2.22 (1.59-3.10)   1.62 (1.10-2.38)  
Region   0.0014   0.0004
Pacific North 0.74 (0.39-1.39)   0.63 (0.32-1.24)  
North Central Gulf 1.87 (1.11-3.15)   1.62 (0.93-2.81)  
Bajio 1.27 (0.78-2.09)   0.93 (0.55-1.59)  
Central 0.71 (0.43-1.17)   0.49 (0.28-0.84)  
Mexico City (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Southeast 1.44 (0.90-2.29)   1.13 (0.69-1.87)  
Attitude toward emergency contraceptive pills   0.0034   0.0009
Liberal 0.48 (0.29-0.79)   0.41 (0.24-0.71)  
Conservative (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Prior knowledge about emergency contraceptive pills   0.0020   0.1400
Yes 0.61 (0.45-0.84)   0.74 (0.52-1.06)  
No (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Parity   0.0206    
0 (ref) 1.00   na  
1 1.44 (0.94-2.20)   na  
>=2 2.02 (1.13-3.60)   na  
Sex   0.0326    
Male (ref) 1.00   na  
Female 1.38 (1.03-1.85)   na  
Marital status   0.0473    
Never-married (ref) 1.00   na  
Consensual union 1.22 (0.62-2.40)   na  
Married 1.67 (1.14-2.45)   na  
Divorced/separated 0.51 (0.10-2.54)   na  
Attendance at religious services   0.0512    
>=once a week 1.34 (1.00-1.80)   na  
<once a week (ref) 1.00   na  
Religious identification   0.1660    
Catholic (ref) 1.00   na  
Other 1.36 (0.82-2.27)   na  
Not religious 0.77 (0.52-1.15)   na  
Notes: All p-values are from the likelihood ratio test. ref=reference group. na=not applicable, because variable was not included in the model.

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'
TABLE 5. Odds ratios (and 95% confidence intervals) from univariate and multivariate analyses of the association between selected characteristics and the likelihood of having liberal, rather than moderate, opinions about abortion
Characteristic Univariate Multivariate
Odds ratio p-value Odds ratio p-value
Knows the legal status of abortion   0.8960   0.1300
Yes 0.97 (0.66-1.44)   0.72 (0.47-1.10)  
No (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Region <0.0001   0.0002 
Pacific North 0.26 (0.11-0.63)   0.29 (0.12-0.69)  
North Central Gulf 0.63 (0.33-1.18)   0.61 (0.31-1.12)  
Bajio 0.25 (0.12-0.51)   0.23 (0.11-0.49)  
Central 0.35 (0.19-0.62)   0.33 (0.18-0.62)  
Mexico City (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Southeast 0.49 (0.28-0.86)   0.53 (0.30-0.93)  
Knows someone who has used emergency contraceptive pills   0.0028   0.0230
Yes 2.51 (1.40-4.51)   2.18 (1.15-4.13)  
No (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Knows someone who has had an abortion   0.0138   0.1700
Yes 1.75 (1.13-2.71)   1.49 (0.93-2.39)  
No (ref) 1.00   1.00  
Age   0.0445    
15-17 0.64 (0.41-1.00)   na  
18-24 (ref)   1.00 na  
Prior knowledge about emergency contraceptive pills   0.0777    
Yes 1.42 (0.96-2.10)   na  
No (ref) 1.00   na  
Sex   0.1770    
Male (ref) 1.00   na  
Female 1.31 (0.89-1.93)   na  
Attendance at religious services   0.1092    
>=once a week 0.72 (0.48-1.08)   na  
<once a week (ref) 1.00   na  
Religious identification   0.1072    
Catholic (ref) 1.00   na  
Other 0.50 (0.19-1.32)   na  
Not religious 1.35 (0.85-2.14)   na  
Registered to vote   0.1241    
Yes (ref) 1.00   na  
No 0.92 (0.51-1.67)   na  
Not eligible 0.63 (0.40-0.99)   na  
Political party identification   0.0534    
PAN (ref)† 1.00   na  
Other 1.20 (0.71-2.01)   na  
None 0.67 (0.36-1.25)   na  
Not eligible to vote 0.61 (0.37-1.02)   na  
Attitude toward emergency contraceptive pills   0.1768    
Liberal 1.87 (0.71-4.93)   na  
Conservative (ref) 1.00   na  
†PAN is the National Action Party. Notes: All p-values are from the likelihood ratio test. ref=reference group. na=not applicable, because variable was not included in the model.

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