The profile of the first women presenting for elective termination of pregnancy at the Pretoria academic hospital

Introduction: At the time of the study (1998), a termination of pregnanc), (TOP) service had never been provided at Pretoria Academic Hospital or elsewhere in South Africa before and this elicited much speculation about the women who would present for this service. It was decided to study the first group of women who came to Pretoria Academic Hospital for this service and explore some of the issues surrounding their decision. Methods: A prospective descriptive study was performed on the first 122 women presenting for termination of pregnancy at the Pretoria Academic Hospital. Results: The "average" woman requesting TOP was a 25-year-old single woman busy with tertiary education. She was a P,G, and had been in a stable relationship of more than I year's duration. She and her partner had used a condom that had been unsuccessful in preventing c conception. The duration of her pregnancy was 10 weeks. She had informed her partner who provided her with positive emotjonal support at the time. There was an equal chance drat she informed her family or did not inform them of her pregnancy and her decision to seek elective termination. If informed they also positively supported her: Her decision to request elective termination was usually a joint decision with either her partner and/ or her family and would be for more than one reason - the most common being financial and study reasons. Discussion: Our overwhelming impression is that of a group of patients faced with a very difficult decision. The decisions never seem to be made lightly, easily or without some deep soul-searching.They need more involvement fi.om their doctors, not less, and these doctors might do well to understand the patients before summarily dismissing them and refusing to become involved.