Study: One-third of US women seeking abortions get misleading information

NEW YORK: Women in many US states are given misleading information in state-issued brochures when they seek abortions,suchascharacterisations of fetal and embryonic development, according to a study released on Monday.

Thirty- one US states require women to be given informational packets ahead of getting an abortion in a practice known as informed consent, according to the study by researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Their fi ndings come just days before the US Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in its first abortion case in nearly a decade. Looking at brochures issued in 23 of those 31 US states, the researchers said they found nearly a third of the information to be medically inaccurate. The brochures are authored by and required by the states.

Based on those findings, the researchers estimated that nationwide, 35 per cent of women having abortions were given information exaggerating the development of fetuses and embryos.

For example, a Wisconsin brochure said a 20-week-old fetus ‘may feel pain’ and a North Carolina pamphlet said fetuses between weeks 12 and 14 had fully formed lips and noses and have fingernails beginning to form, the study said.

Such characterisations are incorrect, the researchers said.

“Misinformation is a threat to the integrity of the doctorpatient relationship and to the medical system as a whole,” said Cynthia Daniels, the study’s lead author and a professor who heads Rutgers’s Informed Consent Project. — Reuters