Methods A chart review was initially performed, followed by a survey of women presenting to the clinic, as well as in-depth interviews that were audiotaped and transcribed.

To examine the experiences of women who are delaying motherhood by having abortions. Main findings Of the 1844 charts reviewed, 550 (30%) were for women 33 years of age and older and 117 (21%) of those had no children (6% of the total 1844). Plans for future pregnancies were reported in only 70 of the 117 charts; 37 (53%) of the women said they wanted children in the future and 20 (29%) said they were unsure. There were 1118 questionnaires completed (response rate of 86%). There were 334 (30%) women 33 years of age and older and 87 (26%) of those had no children (8% of the total 1113). Of these women, 47 (54%) planned to have children in the future and 24 (28%) were unsure. The most common reason these older childless women gave for having abortions was that they were "just not ready" (59%). We used logistic regression to examine predictors for delaying motherhood and the stepwise regression retained only 2 factors: high rating of "stable relationship" (P = .003) and a "partner who would be a good parent" (P = .008). The most striking themes in the interviews were women's uncertainty about childbearing and their focus on the quality of their relationships.