Abortion Decision Study, 1975-1976

This study was designed to study women's responses to real moral dilemmas with a specific focus on identity and morality. Participants included twenty-nine women who were referred to the study by abortion and pregnancy counseling services. The women were interviewed during their first trimester of pregnancy at a time when they were considering having an abortion, and again at the end of the following year. The women ranged in age from 15 to 33 and were diverse with respect to ethnic background and socioeconomic status. The initial interviews were conducted in 1975 and were comprised of two parts. The first part sought to explore the decision the women faced and the ways in which making this decision affected their views of themselves and their relationships with others. In the latter part of the interview, women were asked to resolve three hypothetical moral dilemmas, developed by Kohlberg. The follow-up interviews were conducted a year later with twenty-one of the women and were similar in both format and content to the initial interview. The Murray Archive holds additional analogue materials for this study (interview transcripts from twenty-six women at Time 1 and twenty women at Time 2, as well as demographic information for participants; follow-up of the study participants is possible with the restriction that any contacts of the participants must be made through the contributor). If you would like to access this material, please apply to use the data.