PubMed2000
The paper describes actual regional differences in the rate of legally induced abortions as well as different trends observed since abortion on request was introduced in 1973. The analysis is primarily based on national population-based and published data from the Registry of Legally Induced Abortions in the National Board of Health, supplemented with data from a linking with the Fertility Database. The rate of abortion has shown regional differences, being at the highest level in counties with large cities. The observed differences are related to higher age at first birth and fewer children per woman in counties with a high frequency of abortion. A large part of the differences are observed among women below age 30-35. Over time developments have shown a parallelism between the counties, even though some differences have also been observed as regards both induced abortion and fertility. Various background factors do not seem to have the same impact on the choice of induced abortion in all counties.