Pro-life or pro-abortion – Women's attitude toward abortion in Darjeeling, India

Background and Objective: Despite liberal abortion lawin India, majority of abortionsare unsafe. Behavioral theory suggests that women's attitudesmay influence their abortiondecisions. The present study was conducted to find out women's attitudetoward abortionand its predictors. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Naxalbari block of Darjeeling district, West Bengal, India, among 420 women aged 15–49 years using a predesigned, pretested interview schedule. The women's attituderegarding abortionpractices was determined based on Likert's three-point scale. Two-stage cluster analysis was used to classify the overall attitudeof women. Binary logistic regression was used for finding out predictors of abortion attitude. Results: More than half (53.5%) of the women had an overall pro-life attitudeand 46.5% women had an overall pro- abortion attitude. Women who were less educated with