Attitudes Toward Abortion In A Sample Of South African Female University Students

Attitudes Toward Abortion in a Sample of South African
Female University Students
C J. P1
 M C. M
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Durban, South Africa
This study examines the structure of abortion attitudes in a sample of 124 full-time
female university residence students, the relationship between self-rated religiosity
and abortion attitudes, as well as their knowledge of the Choice on Termination of
Pregnancy Act passed in South Africa in 1996. The data provide evidence for the
existence of an underlying structure of abortion attitudes, which is complex and
multifaceted. Almost 76% of the students described themselves as religious to very
religious, and a pronounced trend toward pro-life is evident.
An examination of research conducted on American (Bryan & Freed,
1993; Embree, 1998; Hollis & Morris, 1992; Lester, 2001), Swedish (Lindell &
Olsson, 1993), Swedish and Italian (Agostino & Wahlberg, 1991), and British
(Lee, 2000) college students has revealed that there is a tendency to hold
liberal views toward abortion, with conflicting evidence for gender differ-
ences (Bailey, 1993; Carlton, Nelson, & Coleman, 2000; Finlay, 1996;
Stevens, Caron, & Pratt, 2003; Vaz & Kanekar, 1992). The impact of reli-
gious involvement and affiliation has also been well documented, with reli-
gious subjects generally indicating more negative attitudes toward abortion
(Agostino & Wahlberg, 1991; Bahr & Marcos, 2003; Bryan & Freed, 1993;
Esposito & Basow, 1995; Hollis & Morris, 1992; Krishnan, 1991; Lester,
2001; Marsiglio & Shehan, 1993; Roman & Lester, 1999; Stevens et al., 2003;
Woodrum & Davison, 1992).
Another issue that has emerged quite strongly from research with college
students, as well as the general population, is that it is no longer appropriate
to simply categorize individuals as being pro-life or pro-choice. Research on
attitudes toward abortion has traditionally been conceptualized along a con-
tinuum from pro-choice to pro-life. Pro-choice refers to the tendency or the
inclination to stress women’s autonomy, with protagonists emphasizing
the importance of choice to have or not have an abortion. Pro-lifers, on the
other hand, oppose the idea of abortion, citing the sanctity of life. This
1
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Cynthia Joan Patel, School
of Psychology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus, King George V
Avenue, Durban 4041, South Africa. E-mail: patelc@ukzn.ac.za
736
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2008, 38, 3, pp. 736–750.
© 2008 Copyright the Authors
Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing, Inc.

conceptualization represents a one-dimensional approach where scores at
one end of the scale indicate a pro-life stance, while scores at the other end of
the scale indicate a pro-choice stance. Stets and Leik (1993) found that the
pro-life group in their study was more monolithic in their views, more con-
servative, and more religious than the pro-choice group. The latter group
tended to have a less unified attitude structure.
Researchers are becoming more sensitized to the idea that people are
ambivalent about abortion and that to categorize a person as pro-choice or
pro-life is to oversimplify a deeply complex issue. While pro-abortion senti-
ment is the general finding in most American studies with college students,
there are variations in findings, depending on the context or reason for
abortion. In all the studies encountered, participants were most likely to
endorse abortion in rape cases (Carlton et al., 2000; Finlay, 1996; Hollis &
Morris, 1992; Lindell & Olsson, 1993; Marsiglio & Shehan, 1993; Vaz &
Kanekar, 1992) and fetal abnormality (Carlton et al., 2000; Embree, 1998;
Lee, 2000; Rule, 2004).
Attitudes were also found to vary according to the sociopolitical and
historical context of the country being studied. For example, in Catholic
countries (e.g., Italy), religion plays a role (Agostino & Wahlberg, 1991); in
India, class issues and the lower status of the female child determine attitudes
(Vaz & Kanekar, 1992); in Eastern Europe, the transition from socialism to
capitalism (Wall et al., 1999); and in the United States, the Roe v. Wade
decision and recent anti-abortion violence linked to more conservative atti-
tudes are critical in understanding changing abortion attitudes. Boggess and
Bradner (2000), using American samples, found that from 1988 to 1995, male
approval of abortion dropped from 37% to 24%.
In a similar vein, Stevens et al. (2003) found that their 1999 (American)
sample tended to be more conservative in their views on abortion, virginity,
and premarital sex than did their 1990 sample. While the evidence is not
conclusive, it is worth noting that there have been reports of a tendency
toward a more conservative approach to reproductive rights, in line with the
changing political landscape. A recent illustration of this change may be seen
in the United Nations’ (UN) attempt to remove women’s rights to abortion
from the Beijing Declaration (which enjoyed strong support from the Clinton
administration 10 years ago). The present Bush government has reversed
this policy on abortion and has blocked UN family planning funding
(Bailey, 2005).
Research has shown increasingly that in examining attitudes, it is not a
simple case of approving or disapproving of abortion, but consideration of
the varying conditions under which abortion becomes a necessary or possible
course of action (Bahr & Marcos, 2003). Public views on abortion are not
restricted to the traditional conceptualization of hard reasons (in cases of
ABORTION ATTITUDES OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS 737

rape, incest, health reasons) versus soft reasons (financial reasons, too many
children, career interruption), but embrace issues of its availability, moral
and religious considerations, legality, cultural differences on the value of
fertility, method of abortion, stage of pregnancy, health workers’ values and
attitudes, the AIDS pandemic, women’s autonomy, fathers’ role in decision
making, and so forth.
In addition, Bumpass (1997) raised concerns about the measurement of
abortion attitudes, with specific reference to the phrasing and order of survey
questions. For example, they reported that when pregnancy duration is not
specified, 44% of respondents agreed that a legal abortion should be available
to women for any reason, with the percentage increasing to 55% when third
trimester was specified.
The number of survey questions used in abortion research ranges from the
use of just one question (Lee, Kleinbach, Hu, Peng, & Chen, 1996) to the use
of a number of scenarios (Bryan & Freed, 1993) to which respondents
are asked to respond. On the one hand, the use of a single question (e.g.,
“Should abortion be legal?”) ignores the complexities of the attitude and the
importance of context. Cook, Jelen, and Wilcox (1993) concluded that
describing public opinion based on single items can be misleading. On the
other hand, the use of a number of items that add up to a total score reflecting
abortion attitude is susceptible to the criticism that a total score may
be obtained through various combinations of responses (Oppenheim, 1992).
The point is that regardless of the item content and number of items used,
research findings are represented in a rather general way and are compared
across studies as “attitudes to abortion.”
In South Africa, abortion laws were liberalized with the introduction of
the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (1996). This has been repre-
sented, especially in the media (Skjerdal, 2000), as in keeping with the politi-
cal transition from apartheid to democracy in which one of the immediate
aims of the government was to address gender issues allowing women greater
independence and reproductive freedom. Figures cited by the Health Systems
Trust (n.d.) indicate that the number of pregnancy terminations in South
Africa increased from 26,455 in 1997 to 53,967 in 2001.
Although the number of terminations appears to have doubled over
a 5-year period, very little research has been conducted on South African
samples, let alone on students. It would appear that given the high percentage
of abortions in this age group (Varga, 2002), and strong empirical support for
the link between education and liberal attitudes and more positive attitudes
among women, it would not be unreasonable to expect that female students
would exhibit strong support for abortion. However, given the multicultural
makeup of the South African population, the resistance to abortion (as
reported by Harrison, Montgomery, Lurie, & Wilkinson, 2000; Rule, 2004;
738 PATEL AND MYENI

Varga, 2002), the sociopolitical context, the high value placed on fertility, and
the HIV crisis in the country, it becomes difficult to predict general sentiment
regarding the abortion decision. While education and lack of religious affili-
ation may be factors linked with positive abortion attitudes in overseas
research, the same may not be true of South African samples. Erasmus (1998)
noted that, in Africa, information on abortion practices and opinion is
limited. A study of university students’ abortion attitudes and religiosity is
planned with the intention of examining the complexity of their attitudes.
Method
Participants
Of the 184 Black (African) students who participated in the study, the
final sample consisted of 124 full-time female students at the University of
Durban–Westville, now known as the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The
students who had children or who were married were omitted from the final
analysis because of the small numbers in these groups. The participants were
residence students either living off campus or on campus. Their ages ranged
from 17 to 33 years, with almost 77% of them between the ages of 18 and 25.
Instruments
A three-page questionnaire was administered to the students in the resi-
dences. The cover page included a brief description of the study and an
informed consent form. In addition to a brief biographical questionnaire,
participants were asked to indicate their awareness (Yes or No) of the Choice
on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) Act of 1996, a self-rating of their
religiosity on a 5-point scale (higher scores reflect more religiosity), a self-
description on a 5-point pro-choice/pro-life scale (higher scores reflect a more
pro-choice stance), and whether they would consider an abortion if they were
faced with an unwanted pregnancy (Yes, No, or Uncertain).
An adapted version of the scale developed by Stets and Leik (1993) was
used to measure students’ attitudes toward abortion. The following changes
to Stets and Leik’s scale were implemented: “trimester” was changed to “first
3 months”; “Federal, state, or local tax” was changed to “Government”; and
“United Way” was changed to “Department of Health.” In addition, the
following items were added: “Drug-induced abortion is more acceptable than
a surgical procedure”; “Abortion is acceptable when an unwanted pregnancy
interferes with career/educational goals”; “Pregnant women who have tested

HIV-positive should abort the fetus”; “Abortion using a surgical procedure is
unacceptable”; and “Abortion should be allowed when a woman has full-
blown AIDS.” As with the original scale, a high score on each item was
associated with a positive attitude, while a low score was associated with a
negative attitude. Subscale scores were used, rather than the total score.
Procedure
Questionnaires were distributed in the university’s female residence to all
students who were willing to participate in the study. The completed ques-
tionnaires were collected after 1 week. A total of 250 questionnaires were
distributed: 184 were returned, 58 were not returned, and 8 were incomplete.
Results
It has been suggested that a sample size of between 100 and 200 is
adequate for factor analysis, especially if the subjects are homogeneous and
there are not too many variables (Tabachnick & Fidell, 1983). Using this
guideline, the sample of 124 participants was considered adequate to run a
factor analysis. Chi-square analyses were conducted on the categorical data
where cell sizes permitted, and descriptive statistics were used on the rest of
the variables.
Of the final 124 students, 16.9% (n = 21) said they were not aware, while
83.1% (n = 103) said they were aware of the CTOP Act of 1996. Of the
sample, 54.8% (n = 68) described themselves as pro-life, 25.8% (n = 32)
described themselves as pro-choice, and 19.4% (n = 24) were neutral. More
than three quarters (n = 94) of the sample described themselves as religious,
21.0% (n = 26) were neutral, and 3.2% (n = 4) indicated that they were not
religious. If faced with an unwanted pregnancy, 48.4% (n = 60) said they
would not consider an abortion, 23.4% (n = 29) said they would consider an
abortion, while 28.2% (n = 35) were uncertain. Cross-tabulations of the vari-
ables are presented in Tables 1, 2, and 3.
Abortion Attitude Scale
The reliability analysis revealed a significant internal consistency of .85.
Principal component analysis with varimax orthogonal rotation was con-
ducted on the 25 items measuring attitudes toward abortion. Using Kaiser’s
740 PATEL AND MYENI

criterion (i.e., retaining only those items with eigenvalues greater than 1), six
factors were extracted. These factors accounted for almost 60% of the vari-
ance. The significance of the loadings used for interpretation was based on
Stevens’ (1986) recommendation: By multiplying the critical value by 2, a
more stringent level is used. For a sample of about 120, the critical value
( p < .01) is .236. Therefore, the adjusted critical value is .472. Although it is
recommended that a minimum of three significant items loading on a factor
should be retained, the two items loading on Factor 6 were included because
of their importance. Factor loadings are presented in Table 4.
Table 1
Cross-Tabulation of Self-Rated Religiosity ¥ Abortion Stance
Religiosity
Total
Not religious Neutral Religious
Abortion stance
Pro-life 4 8 56 68
Neutral 0 8 16 24
Pro-choice 0 10 22 32
Total 4 26 94 124
Note. This table indicates participants’ self-rated levels of religiosity and their stance
on abortion.
Table 2
Cross-Tabulation of Self-Rated Religiosity ¥ Abortion Decision
Religiosity
Total
Not religious Neutral Religious
Abortion decision
Yes 0 8 21 29
No 3 13 44 60
Uncertain 1 5 29 35
Total 4 26 94 124
Note. This table indicates participants’ self-rated levels of religiosity and whether or
not they would consider an abortion.

In Stets and Leik’s (1993) study, Factor 1 constituted 10 items relating to
legal availability. In the present study, six of these items made up Factor 1.
The underlying dimension that unifies this group of items is the availability of
abortion: at public clinics, should birth control fail, regardless of income, and
involvement and support of the Government and Department of Health. Item
22, having the lowest loading on this factor, is concerned with the accept-
ability of abortion in the face of career disruption.
Moral acceptability items loaded on Factor 2. Items include abortion as
murder, against their beliefs, and a sin against God. The pro-life argument of
the sanctity of life, which contains the idea that the fetus should be recog-
nized, appears to underlie Factor 3 (status of fetus): that the fetus is a
human being, that life starts from conception, and that the fetus has legal
rights.
The hard reasons—more specifically, rape, incest, and the law has no right
to tell a woman what to do with her body—loaded on Factor 4 (hard reasons/
control). Factor 5 (women’s autonomy) contains items relating to fathers’
rights and women’s autonomy. Finally, the two items about the acceptability
of abortion in the case of AIDS and HIV form Factor 6. Means and standard
deviations of scale items are presented in Table 5.
The sample was divided into three groups based on their self-rating as
pro-choice, neutral, or pro-life. One-way anovas were conducted comparing
the groups on the six factors. On five of the six factors (legal availability,
moral acceptability, status of fetus, hard reasons, and women’s autonomy),
the pro-choice group differed significantly from the pro-life group in the
expected direction ( p < .01).
Table 3
Cross-Tabulation of Abortion Stance ¥ Abortion Decision
Abortion stance
Total
Pro-life Neutral Pro-choice
Abortion decision
Yes 3 6 20 29
No 47 8 5 60
Uncertain 18 10 7 35
Total 68 24 32 124
Note. This table presents a chi-square analysis indicating a significant relationship
between decision to abort and abortion stance, c2
(4, N = 124) = 47.75, p < .001.
742 PATEL AND MYENI

Table 4
Factor Loadings of Abortion Items
Item Loading
Factor 1: Availability
1. Abortion should be available through public clinics. .728
4. Abortion should be legal. .738
6. Abortion should be legal if birth control fails. .550
8. Government money should be used to provide abortions. .740
10. The Department of Health should support agencies which
provide abortion.
.846
18. Abortion should be equally available, regardless of income. .734
22. Abortion is acceptable when pregnancy interferes with
career/educational goals.
.515
Factor 2: Moral Acceptability
2. Abortion after the first three months is murder. .520
5. Abortion is against my beliefs. .600
11. Abortion is murder. .579
16. Abortion is a sin against God. .791
Factor 3: Status of Fetus
7. A fetus is a human being. .809
13. Life exists from the moment of conception. .777
19. A fetus should have equal rights. .577
Factor 4: Hard Reasons/Control
12. Abortion should be legal in the case of incest. .722
14. The law has no right to tell a woman what to do with her body. .564
20. Abortion should be legal in the case of rape. .552
Factor 5: Women’s Autonomy
3. The father should have the right to prevent the mother from
having an abortion.
.785
9. A woman should have to tell the father before having an
abortion.
.737
17. Abortion should be entirely the woman’s decision. .527
Factor 6: HIV/AIDS
23. Pregnant women who have tested HIV-positive should abort
the fetus.
.810
25. Abortion should be allowed when a woman has full-blown
AIDS.
.824

Discussion
In terms of their response to the scale, the present sample appears to be
quite similar to the pro-life sample in Stets and Leik’s (1993) study. A clear
underlying structure in which the sample interpreted the various stimuli in a
Table 5
Percentages and Means of Attitude Items
Items
(in descending order) Agree Neutral Disagree M SD
Rape 80.65 (100) 12.90 (16) 6.45 (8) 4.29 1.00
Inform father 72.58 (90) 17.74 (22) 9.68 (12) 2.02 1.07
Mother’s health 70.97 (88) 18.55 (23) 10.48 (13) 3.91 1.10
Murder after trimester 69.36 (86) 11.29 (14) 19.35 (24) 2.17 1.27
Law has no right 68.55 (85) 12.90 (16) 18.55 (23) 3.87 1.29
Sin against God 66.13 (82) 26.61 (33) 7.26 (9) 1.95 1.05
Father right to prevent 62.90 (78) 13.71 (17) 23.39 (29) 2.37 1.25
Fetus is human 62.90 (78) 25.81 (32) 11.29 (14) 2.20 1.09
Abortion is murder 58.87 (73) 18.55 (23) 22.58 (28) 2.36 1.36
Life at conception 57.26 (71) 29.03 (36) 13.71 (17) 2.26 1.16
Woman’s decision 54.84 (68) 19.35 (24) 25.81 (32) 3.51 1.36
Incest 54.03 (67) 27.42 (34) 18.55 (23) 3.55 1.19
HIV 52.42 (65) 23.39 (29) 24.19 (30) 3.37 1.32
Against beliefs 51.61 (64) 23.39 (29) 25.00 (31) 2.50 1.28
DOH support 50.00 (62) 20.16 (25) 29.84 (37) 3.28 1.30
Fetus’ legal rights 50.00 (62) 29.03 (36) 20.97 (26) 2.59 1.21
Birth control fails 48.39 (60) 17.74 (22) 33.87 (42) 3.17 1.34
Should be legal 46.78 (58) 19.35 (24) 33.87 (42) 3.16 1.46
Public clinics 37.90 (47) 16.13 (20) 45.97 (57) 2.87 1.39
Government money 33.06 (41) 16.13 (20) 50.81 (63) 2.70 1.41
Career 31.45 (39) 24.19 (30) 44.36 (55) 2.82 1.28
Surgery 20.16 (25) 42.74 (53) 37.10 (46) 3.22 1.08
Drug 18.55 (23) 42.74 (53) 38.71 (48) 3.28 1.10
Note. N = 124. DOH = Department of Health. Frequencies are presented in
parentheses.
744 PATEL AND MYENI

similar way implies that they share a basic conservative ideology. The finding
that these female university students tend to disapprove of abortion, with
almost 55% describing themselves as pro-life, appears to support Rule’s
(2004) statement that South African policy regarding reproductive rights is
out of step with the public’s sentiment.
In view of the well-documented relationship between religion and conser-
vative abortion attitudes, one may be tempted to conclude that since 75.8%
(94) of the sample described themselves as religious, the pro-life tendency of
more than half the sample is not an unexpected finding. However, in terms of
the abortion decision for themselves, 22.3% (21) of this “religious” group
indicated that they would consider an abortion if faced with an unwanted
pregnancy, 46.8 % (44) said No, while 30.9% (29) were Uncertain. In addition,
of the remaining 30 students who said they were either not religious or neutral,
only 8 said they would consider an abortion if faced with an unwanted
pregnancy. These findings suggest that while an underlying conservative
personal morality, rather than religiosity per se, may be at the root of these
students’ general abortion attitudes, contextual and practical considerations
may play a role in the personal abortion decision.
Taking into account past research, which suggests that most students tend
to hold liberal attitudes toward abortion and that South African feminist and
women’s organizations tend to depict South African women as generally
pro-choice, the general pro-life findings seem surprising. They are, however,
in line with research conducted by Harrison et al. (2000), Rule (2004), and
Varga (2002). It seems that South Africans generally have conservative atti-
tudes toward termination of pregnancy. In a nationwide survey conducted
by Smith, Solanki, and Kimmie (1999), 54% of the Black sample, compared
to 19% of the White sample, believed that abortion is morally wrong. Just
8% of the former group believed that abortion is a women’s right. While
Guttmacher, Kapadia, Naude and de Pinho (1998) pointed out that Black
South Africans oppose abortion for religious reasons or view it as a reminder
of apartheid policy, which was seen as an attempt to control the Black and
colored population in South Africa, Swartz (2002) reported that the African
community values fertility very highly.
Closer examination of the present findings, more specifically the item-
by-item analysis, reveals attitude complexity in that while there are general
pro-life sentiments in the sample, there are definite pro-choice sentiments for
specific conditions, and an almost equal sensitivity for and recognition of the
rights of the fetus, the father, and the mother. This forces us to re-examine the
assertion by Woodrum and Davison (1992), among others, that abortion is
controversial because it pits women’s rights to control their bodies against
the sanctity of the unborn. Embree (1998) also argued that those who indi-
cate anti-abortion sentiments are more likely to feel for the unborn fetus,

whereas those who are pro-choice are more likely to empathize with the
pregnant woman.
The present findings suggest that while the sample had moral objections to
abortion (more than half indicated that abortion is murder, that it is against
their beliefs, and that it is a sin against God), they also considered all parties
involved: The father should be informed about the abortion and should have
the right to prevent it; the fetus has legal rights; life exists from conception;
the fetus is a human being; and so forth. At the same time, the woman has
rights: Abortion should be legal in instances of rape and incest; the law has
no right to tell a woman what to do with her body; abortion should be allowed
if the woman’s health is an issue (including AIDS and HIV).
Finlay (1981), who reported a similar tendency in a sample of female
students to consider the rights of everyone involved—the mother, the fetus,
and the father—called it a humanitarian approach. Although the findings
may appear to be contradictory, for these students, their identities as edu-
cated women could explain their concern with women’s rights, while their
identities as religious individuals might require them to also consider the fetus
and the father. Adding to the complexity is the possibility of the importance
and value attached to fertility. How these attitudes translate into actual
behavior—should women like the ones in the sample find themselves faced
with the decision of whether or not to terminate a pregnancy—would be an
interesting dimension to explore in future research.
From a different perspective, Smyth’s (2002) concerns regarding feminist
interpretations of “rights” appear to reverberate in these findings. The ways
in which understanding of the rights-bearing individual has excluded women
and has allowed the construction of the fetus as rights bearer led Smyth
to consider the alternative “right to bodily integrity” (p. 343), instead of the
right to choice.
Regarding availability and government involvement, the findings are
rather unclear. While about half of the present sample approved of govern-
mental support for abortion agencies, more than 50% said that government
money should not be used for abortions, implying that they disapprove of the
government’s direct involvement. This is supported by Bryan and Freed’s
(1993) finding that 82% of their sample supported abortion rights, while only
47% supported publicly funded abortion. This could imply that the sample
approves of government involvement at the policy level, but not in terms of
offering financial backing.
As with most past research (Carlton et al., 2000; Finlay, 1996; Hollis &
Morris, 1992; Lindell & Olsson, 1993; Marsiglio & Shehan, 1993; Vaz &
Kanekar, 1992), the rape scenario elicited the strongest feeling. Of the 124
students sampled, 100 agreed that abortion should be legal in the case of
rape. Adding to the complexity of the issue, a sample of South African
746 PATEL AND MYENI

healthcare workers has suggested that rape is an “excuse” for young women
to secure an abortion (Harrison et al., 2000). More than half of the students
in the present study felt that in cases of incest, abortion should be legal.
With regard to the item “The law has no right to tell a woman what to
do with her body,” 85 of the 124 respondents agreed with the statement.
Erasmus (1998) cited research with Black undergraduate students supporting
this finding. At the same time, however, the sample recognizes the rights of
the father, as reflected in their agreement with the item that the father should
be informed about the abortion (72.6%) and the slightly lower number
(62.9%) who acknowledged the rights of the father to prevent the abortion.
Nelson and Coleman (1997) also found that males want to be involved in the
abortion decision.
Varga’s (2002) finding, on the other hand, forces a re-examination of what
this “involvement” actually entails. Her study suggested that male partners
can and do insist on pregnancy termination. This implies that there is a
pressing need to engage in research that not only studies male attitudes
toward abortion, but that examines how they see themselves being involved
in the decision-making process.
While 63% of the present female sample agreed with fathers’ right to
prevent abortion, it seems that the opposite could be the reality; that is,
fathers could insist on pregnancy termination. Items in an abortion scale
measuring male involvement in the decision, therefore, could be open to
misinterpretation, where agreement might mean a right to demand termina-
tion. This also calls into question the common use of items where disagree-
ment with fathers’ involvement in the abortion decision is interpreted as
having positive attitudes toward abortion, when, in fact, it is used to endorse
women’s autonomy. Further research must consider power dynamics in
couples’ relationships, as well as the conditions leading to pregnancy termi-
nation, and, more specifically, the nature of fathers’ actual involvement in the
decision-making process.
While the present study adds some insight into an emotionally charged,
multifaceted topic and points to further research possibilities, several short-
comings must be highlighted. The restricted sample size severely limits gen-
eralizability of the results to other South African students. In addition to
the limited sample size, other shortcomings of the study include use of a
single question examining students’ personal abortion decisions, without
considering contextual factors; and use of a relatively crude measure of
religiosity. In the absence of an appropriate measure for South African
populations and the difficulty surrounding conceptualization of the con-
struct, this 5-point self-rating offered a rough assessment of students’ levels
of religiosity. In a country in which the cultural contexts are so varied and
unique, it may be worth exploring the specific dynamics in the decision-

making process through in-depth interviews with pregnant women and with
their partners.
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