Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The purpose of this survey was to collect data from a random sample of women living in England, Wales and Scotland and having abortions in the Spring of 1972 and to find out whom they had consulted in the process, the number of consultations, any delays involved and the reasons for them, and what the women felt about the way they had been treated.

Main Topics:

Attitudinal/Behavioural Questions Number of consultations (number of types of doctor and respondent's preferences), reasons for not consulting local GP in first instance, order of consultation with different doctors, gestation weeks at first consultation, reasons for delay. Doctor's action/advice at consultation, doctor's comments on the possibility of abortion, agreement made/decision taken, referrals made, opinion of treatment given by doctor, length of journey to surgery, type of practice, sex of doctor, whether consultations NHS or private.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

two-stage 1. Selection of hospitals and approved places by systematic sampling. Then stratified by number of abortions performed (ie less than or more than 50). 2. Sample of patients: total sample for patients in institutions performing less than 50 abortions per quarter, and patients in institutions performing more than 50 abortions per quarter selected with probability proportional to the number of abortions performed.

Face-to-face interview