In Search of Safe Spaces: An Exploratory Study of the Anticipated Help-Seeking Needs and Preferences of Protestant Christian Women in Singapore with Respect to a Hypothetical Abortion Scenario

Research suggests that religious beliefs may contribute to abortion stigma, resulting in increased secrecy, reduced social support and help-seeking as well as poor coping and negative emotional consequences such as shame and guilt. This study sought to explore the anticipated help-seeking preferences and difficulties of Protestant Christian women in Singapore with regard to a hypothetical abortion scenario. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 self-identified Christian women recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. The sample was largely Singaporean and all participants were ethnically Chinese females of a similar age range (late twenties to mid-thirties). All willing participants were recruited regardless of denomination. All participants anticipated experiences of felt, enacted and internalized stigma. These were affected by their perceptions of God (e.g., how they see abortion), their personal definitions of “life” and their perceptions of their religio-social environment (e.g., perceived social safety and fears). These concerns contributed to participants choosing both faith-based and secular formal support sources with caveats, despite a primary preference for faith-based informal support and secondary preference for faith-based formal support. All participants anticipated negative post-abortion emotional outcomes, coping difficulties and short-term decision dissatisfaction. However, participants who reported more accepting views of abortion also anticipated an increase in decision satisfaction and well-being in the longer term.