Anonymous third party reporting of induced abortion: an experiment in Rajasthan, India

Batya Elul, International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs

Using data from Rajasthan, India, we compare levels of unwanted pregnancy, abortion attempts, successful abortions, abortion complications and treatment-seeking behaviours for complications from the Anonymous Third Party Reporting (ATPR) method, in which women report on experiences among up to five unnamed members of their personal network, with those from Self-Reported Survey (SRS) data. ATPR yielded higher rates of unintended pregnancy, lower rates of attempted abortion and successful abortion, similar rates of complications and higher rates of treatment-seeking behaviours for complications than SRS. Regression analysis showed a 35% decrease in reporting of attempted abortion for ATPR compared to SRS, even after controlling for demographic characteristics and knowledge of and opinions about abortion legality. After allowing the effect of respondents’ knowledge of and opinions about abortion legality to vary by method, however, SRS led to more under-reporting when women perceived abortion to be illegal or had conservative attitudes towards abortion than ATPR.