April 3, 2007 – Ibis Reproductive Health staff member Dr. Angel M. Foster and colleagues at a leading university in Palestine received the 2007 National Abortion Federation Scientific Poster Award. Entitled “Illicit sex, abortion, and so-called ‘honor-killings’: Attitudes and opinions of female university students in Palestine” the poster highlights the preliminary results of a study that investigates unmarried Palestinian women’s experiences with and attitudes toward pregnancy termination. The results reveal that among university students the permissibility of abortion is tied to the illicitness of the sexual encounter, and that abortion is often viewed as protective in cases in which the woman is unmarried. Completed in 2006, collaborating colleagues include co-investigator Francoise Daoud, MPN, BSN, RN from the Faculty of Nursing & Health Sciences, Bethlehem University and study-team members Sahar Abed, Katy Abu Sa'da, and Hiba Al-Ayasah from Bethlehem University. The award was sponsored by Ortho Women’s Health & Urology, a division of Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc.
This study is part of a larger multi-country project dedicated to the sexual and reproductive health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of never-married women in the Middle East and North Africa.
For information about the study, please contact Dr. Foster, afoster(at)ibisreproductivehealth.org.