ArticlePerspectives on sexual and reproductive health2022
Is third-trimester abortion exceptional? Two pathways to abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy in the United States.
Article in Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Weight and Procedural Abortion Complications: A Systematic Review.Obstetrics and gynecology · 2025Pooled it
- Later Abortion Care Availability, Quoted Self-Pay Prices, and State Medicaid Acceptance.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Caller Volume and Gestational Length at an Abortion Fund After Dobbs.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Abortion care over 20 weeks gestation: a psychosocial exploration of patient experiences at the Royal Women's Hospital, Victoria, Australia.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Failed by the System: A Content Analysis of Midwives' Experiences and Challenges When Providing Termination of Pregnancy Care.Journal of clinical nursing · 2025Article
- A global scoping review of the circumstances of care seeking for abortion later in pregnancy.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Is third-trimester abortion exceptional? Two pathways to abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy in the United States.Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextIn the United States, third-trimester abortions are substantially more expensive, difficult to obtain, and stigmatized than first-trimester abortions. However, the circumstances that lead to someone needing a third-trimester abortion may have overlaps with the pathways to abortion at other gestations.
methodsI interviewed 28 cisgender women who obtained an abortion after the 24th week of pregnancy using a modified timeline interview method. I coded the interviews thematically, focusing on characterizing the experience of deciding to obtain a third-trimester abortion.
resultsI find two pathways to needing a third-trimester abortion: new information, wherein the respondent learned new information about the pregnancy-such as of an observed serious fetal health issue or that she was pregnant-that made the pregnancy not (or no longer) one she wanted to continue; and barriers to abortion, wherein the respondent was in the third trimester by the time she was able to surmount the obstacles to abortion she faced, including cost, finding a provider, and stigmatization. These two pathways were not wholly distinct and sometimes overlapped.
conclusionsThe inherent limits of medical knowledge and the infeasibility of ensuring early pregnancy recognition in all cases illustrate the impossibility of eliminating the need for third-trimester abortion. The similarities between respondents' experiences and that of people seeking abortion at other gestations, particularly regarding the impact of barriers to abortion, point to the value of a social conceptualization of need for abortion that eschews a trimester or gestation-based framework and instead conceptualizes abortion as an option throughout pregnancy.
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