Roberta A. Downing ^1*, Thomas A. LaVeist ¹, Heather E. Bullock ²

¹ Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
² University of California, Santa Cruz

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: robertadowning{at}yahoo.com.

	Abstract

Objectives. We examined how ethnicity and social class influence women’s perceptions of reproductive health care. Of primary interest was assessing whether health care providers are perceived as advising low-income women, particularly women of color, to limit their childbearing and to what extent they feel they are discouraged by providers from having future children.

Methods. Ethnically diverse, low-income (n=193) and middle-class women (n=146) completed a questionnaire about their pregnancy-related health care experiences.

Results. Logistic regression analyses revealed that low-income women of color experienced greater odds of being advised to limit their childbearing than did middle-class White women. A separate model demonstrated that low-income Latinas reported greater odds of being discouraged from having children than did middle-class White women.

Conclusions. Low-income women of color were more likely to report being advised to limit their childbearing and were more likely to describe being discouraged from having children than were middle-class White women. More research is needed regarding how ethnicity and social class impact women’s experiences with reproductive health care.

Key Words: Health Professionals, Quality of Care, African Americans/Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, Socioeconomic Factors, Women's Health