Marginalised People's Access to Publicly Funded Abortion in Catalunya A Follow-Up Assessment

Abortion has been legal in Catalunya for any reason in the first trimester and under a set of qualifying circumstances in the second since 2010 and integrated in the health system. Earlier studies identified disparities in access. Through rapid ethnographic assessment (REA) at a Barcelona clinic, this study sought to compare the findings of an earlier phase of REA previously published in this journal with subsequent data collection to determine continuity or changes in accessibility of publicly funded abortion. A subsequent REA found similarities in average wait times and numbers of visits to obtain the required voucher for a publicly funded abortion. Also persistent were greater delays for migrants. The greatest difference was participants with notably later average gestations when obtaining publicly funded abortions.

Automated summary

This study compares the findings of an earlier phase of rapid ethnographic assessment (REA) with subsequent data collection to determine changes in accessibility of publicly funded abortion. The study found similarities in wait times and visits for obtaining vouchers for a publicly funded abortion, while migrants experienced greater delays. The main difference was that participants seeking publicly funded abortions had later average gestations.