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REVIEW article

Front. Glob. Womens Health
Sec. Maternal Health
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2025.1517669
This article is part of the Research Topic High-risk Pregnancy: Women's Experiences and New Approaches to Care View all 3 articles

Motivations Regarding Continuing or Terminating Pregnancy in Women with High-Risk Pregnancies: A Scoping Review

Provisionally accepted
Monica Sofia Do Couto Antunes Monica Sofia Do Couto Antunes 1*Ana Galhanas Ana Galhanas 2Ana Lucia Vitorino Ana Lucia Vitorino 3Sara Palma Sara Palma 4Ana Frias Ana Frias 1
  • 1 University of Evora, Évora, Portugal
  • 2 Hospital of Évora, Évora, Portugal
  • 3 Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada, Setúbal, Portugal
  • 4 Polytechnic Institute of Santarém, Santarém, Santarem, Portugal

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: The decisions of women with high-risk pregnancies to continue or terminate a pregnancy are complex and influenced by various factors. This scoping review synthesises the qualitative literature on the underlying motivations influencing these decisions. Aim: This analysis explores the underlying motivations that influence women's decisions regarding the continuation or termination of pregnancy, considering the challenges and dilemmas this population faces. Methods: This review was conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute's methodology. No date restrictions were applied to the search. Titles and abstracts were screened to select original studies, and crosschecking was performed to avoid case overlap. We included studies that focused on the factors influencing women's decisions to either continue or terminate pregnancies when complications arose.Results: Eighteen studies involving women from different countries and cultural contexts were included. The review identifies four main themes driving these decisions: health considerations, religious convictions, social and political factors and ethical and moral dilemmas. Each theme interlinks to form a complex web of influences that significantly shape women's choices, illustrating how deeply personal, societal, and ethical contexts converge in these critical decisions. Significant emotional and cognitive factors, particularly hope, also play a crucial role. The findings highlight the complexity of the decision-making process and provide a deeper understanding of the personal, social, and spiritual dimensions involved. Conclusions: Multiple factors shape the complex decisions of women with high-risk pregnancies. Understanding these motivations is crucial to providing appropriate support and counselling. This review underscores the need for healthcare professionals to be aware of the diversity of factors involved and to adopt an individualized and context-sensitive approach in their practice, guiding their future actions.

    Keywords: Decision Making, High-risk pregnancy, Motivation, Pregnancy Complications, Pregnancy termination, review

    Received: 26 Oct 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Antunes, Galhanas, Vitorino, Palma and Frias. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Monica Sofia Do Couto Antunes, University of Evora, Évora, Portugal

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.