The objective of this study from HIP Investigator Dr. Marguerite Burns was to examine rural-urban differences in reproductive-aged Wisconsin women’s expectations for contraceptive and abortion care at a hypothetical Catholic hospital. They fielded a 2-stage, cross-sectional survey to Wisconsin women aged 18 to 45 and presented a vignette about a hypothetical Catholic-named hospital; among participants perceiving it as Catholic, conducted multivariable analyses predicting expectations for contraceptive services (birth control pills, Depo-Provera, intrauterine device or implant, tubal ligation) and abortion in the case of serious fetal indications.
The study found that in Wisconsin, rural women were more likely than urban women to expect a hypothetical Catholic hospital to provide the full range of contraceptive methods as well as each method individually. The findings show that many reproductive-aged Wisconsin women-especially in rural areas hold misperceptions about availability of reproductive care in Catholic hospitals.
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