Exploring the Impact of Abortion on Female Students at a South African University Campus: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

It is disturbing that a significant proportion of female students at the South African universities abort. The present study sought to explore the impact of abortion on the lives of female students at tertiary institutions. Many scholars identified the following factors as primary contributory factors leading to abortion among female students; socio-economic status, poor parent - child relationship, lack of parenting skills, future academic goals, marital status, religion and/or culture. A focus group interview with six female participants (who were purposively sampled), was employed in this study. The results revealed that most participants reported negative emotions (e.g. guilt, emptiness, regret and hatred towards their parents), and cited that they had no knowledge that abortion could lead to damaging the womb or maternal death. The recommendations are that female students should be engaged in sexual behaviour discussions to enable them to make informed decisions and be equipped with coping strategies after termination of pregnancy. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n1p111