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PubMedDate not supplied

State abortion policy, geographic access to abortion providers and changing family formation.

CONTEXT: One of the goals in cutting welfare payments and setting time limits on welfare receipt is the reduction of out-of-wedlock childbearing among poor women. Yet such changes may increase the demand for abortion at the same time that access to abortion has decreased, throwing into doubt the potential effect of these changes on the proportion of women who are heading families. METHODS: State and county fixed-effects models were used to estimate the effects of factors influencing abortion availability--geographic access, parental notification requirements and Medicaid funding restrictions--on the county-level proportion of women heading households. RESULTS: The decline in geographic access to abortion providers during the 1980s accounted for a small but significant portion of the rise in the percentage of women heading families (about 2%). Restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortion accounted for about half of the increase in female headship among blacks, while new state parental notification requirements contributed modestly to the rise in the proportion of white women heading single-parent families. CONCLUSIONS: Welfare reform legislation and attempts to reduce the availability of abortion services in the United States appear to be working at cross-purposes. Cutbacks in access to abortion may have contributed modestly to the increase in the proportion of women heading households.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMed1978

Induced abortion and spontaneous abortion: no connection?

The hypothesis that spontaneous abortion is associated with prior induced abortion is tested in an epidemiologic study. The reproductive histories of a consecutive series of women admitted to hospital with spontaneous abortions were compared with those of a control series of women who delivered after 28 weeks gestation. There is no association between spontaneous abortion and prior induced abortion. The power of the analysis to detect a 30% excess in the frequency of induced abortion in cases as compared to controls is 82% at alpha = .05. The design and analysis effectually controlled for all potentially confounding factors.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed2005

Does dedicated pre-abortion contraception counselling help to improve post-abortion contraception uptake?

OBJECTIVE: Many studies have shown a disappointing periabortion contraceptive uptake. This study investigated whether the provision of dedicated and targeted contraception counselling at the pre-abortion assessment visit can improve the post-abortion contraception uptake. METHODS: The study comprised a 3-month prospective reaudit of the abortion clinic. RESULTS: Of the 104 women seen during the re-audit period, 96% received post-abortion contraception. The majority (73%) of the women chose and received one of the less user-dependent contraceptive methods such as intrauterine contraceptive devices, the intrauterine contraceptive system, the progestogen injectable and subdermal implants. CONCLUSION: It was found that the provision of targeted contraception counselling by a dedicated team during the pre-abortion assessment visit can dramatically improve post-abortion contraception uptake.

Abortion Applicants↗
PubMed1979

Pregnancy complications following legally induced abortion with special reference to abortion technique.

A study of 576 pregnant women, whose previous pregnancy had been terminated by legally induced abortion, has shown that the rate of pregnancy and delivery complications could not be correlated with the interval between the abortion and the subsequent pregnancy, nor with the gestational age at the time of abortion, nor the number of previous induced abortions. Neither was the abortion technique found to correlate with the frequency of complications in a subsequent pregnancy. It was found, however, that more infants with a birth weight below 2 501 grams were born to women whose cervical canal during abortion had been dilated more than 12 mm, and by women who had been submitted to récurettage. The latter group also demonstrated a higher frequency of retained placenta or placental tissue.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1980

Risk of spontaneous abortion following legally induced abortion.

Using the registration of all pregnant women living within a particular geographical district of Copenhagen the risk of spontaneous abortion has been calculated by means of a decremental method. A total of 3,042 pregnancies were registered and the total risk of spontaneous abortion was calculated at 10 per cent. In 431 women the previous pregnancy had been terminated by a legally induced abortion. Increased risk of spontaneous abortion could not be demonstrated in this group, where the cumulative risk of spontaneous abortion was 12 per cent. In particular, the risk of late abortion was not seen to increase.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1988

Preventable factors in abortion-related maternal mortality in Africa: focus on abortion deaths in Benin City, Nigeria.

In a 13-year review of maternal deaths of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, abortion was one of the 3 major causes of death, accounting for 37 (22.4) out of 165 deaths. Induced abortion was responsible for 34 (91.9%) of these deaths. The usual victim is the teenage and inexperienced school girl who has no ready access to contraceptive practice. Death was mainly due to sepsis, (including tetanus) hemorrhage, and trauma to vital organs, complication directly attributable to faulty techniques by unskilled abortion providers, by- product of the present restrictive abortion laws. Total overhaul of maternal child health services and family health education system, as well as integration of planned parenthood at primary health care level into the health care delivery system, are suggested. Contraceptive practice should be made available to all categories of women at risk and the cost subsidized by governmental and institutional bodies. Where unwanted pregnancies occur, the authors advocate termination in appropriate health institutions where lethal and sometimes fatal complications are unlikely to occur. In effect, from the results of this study and review of studies on abortion deaths in Nigeria and other developing countries, it is obvious that a revision of abortion laws as they operate, notable, in the African continent, is overdue.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The effect of induced abortion in adolescence on the manifestations of spontaneous abortion, premature labor and birth weight].

An experimental group of adolescents having become pregnant after induced abortion (n = 320) were compared with 514 primigravid adolescents, 391 women 20-24 years old having become pregnant after induced abortion, and 368 primigravid women of the same age. Spontaneous abortion appeared more frequently in the experimental group (5.9%) than in all control groups (5.1%, 3.3%, and 3.8% respectively. Preterm delivery was more frequent in the experimental group (9.3%) than in the control groups (6.8%, 6.4%, 5.7%, respectively). In the young adolescents (14-16 years old) of the experimental group, spontaneous abortion was almost twice as frequent (10.7%) as in the older adolescents of the same group (5.5%) and preterm delivery two and a half times as frequent (24.0%) as in the primigravid adolescents of the same age (10.3%). The weight of the newborns in the experimental group (3,155.7 +/- 536.3 g) was significantly lower than that in primigravid adolescents (3,228 +/- 488 g; t = 1.97, p less than 0.05), in women 20-24 years old with an earlier induced abortion (3,303 +/- 556 d; t = 3.49, p less than 0.01), and in primigravid women 20-24 years old (3.331 +/- 508; t = 4.30, p less than 0.001). The adolescents of the experimental group had on term deliveries in the 40th to the 42nd week significantly less frequently (31.6%) than primigravid adolescents (47.1%), 20-24 year-old women with earlier induced abortion (47.4%), and 20-24 year-old primigravid women (53.8%).

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed2005

Visualising abortion: emotion discourse and fetal imagery in a contemporary abortion debate.

This paper presents an analysis of a recent UK anti-abortion campaign in which the use of fetal imagery--especially images of fetal remains--was a prominent issue. A striking feature of the texts produced by the group behind the campaign was the emphasis given to the emotions of those viewing such imagery. Traditionally, social scientific analyses of mass communication have problematised references to emotion and viewed them as being of significance because of their power to subvert the rational appraisal of message content. However, we argue that emotion discourse may be analysed from a different perspective. As the categorisation of the fetus is a social choice and contested, it follows that all protagonists in the abortion debate (whether pro- or anti-abortion) are faced with the task of constructing the fetus as a particular entity rather than another, and that they must seek to portray their preferred categorisation as objective and driven by an 'out-there' reality. Following this logic, we show how the emotional experience of viewing fetal imagery was represented so as to ground an anti-abortion construction of the fetus as objective. We also show how the arguments of the (pro-abortion) opposition were construed as totally discrepant with such emotions and so were invalidated as deceitful distortions of reality. The wider significance of this analysis for social scientific analyses of the abortion debate is discussed.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMed1993

Factor XII (Hageman) deficiency in women with habitual abortion: new subpopulation of recurrent aborters?

OBJECTIVE: To examine the possible association between factor XII (FXII) deficiency and an elevated number of abortions. DESIGN: Factor XII activity, FXII antigen concentration, other blood clotting parameters, and phospholipid antibodies were examined in venous blood from 43 women with repeated (3 to 7) abortions before the 28th week of gestation but without gynecological and chromosomal abnormalities. The data were compared with those obtained from 49 age-matched women without fetal loss. RESULTS: Eight cases with moderately reduced FXII activity (35% to 68% of normal) could be identified in the abortion group, whereas among controls no abnormalities in FXII activity and antigen concentration were found. The relative occurrence of reduced FXII level was higher among patients with more than three abortions as compared with those with three abortions. CONCLUSION: Repeated abortions may be associated with reduced level of FXII activity of unknown origin.

Abortion, Habitual↗
PubMed1998

Increased risk of abortion following Neospora caninum abortion outbreaks: a retrospective and prospective cohort study in four dairy herds.

Explosive abortion outbreaks in 4 Dutch dairy herds during 1992 to 1994 are reported. In 50 of 51 fetuses submitted during the first 3 wk of the outbreaks characteristic histological lesions compatible for infection with Neospora caninum were seen. Diagnosis of infection was confirmed by immunohistochemistry in 40 fetuses (78%). No evidence for other abortifacients was found. The abortion risk of the herds was investigated in a prospective and retrospective cohort study. The prospective study showed that cows aborting during the outbreaks and N. caninum seropositive nonaborting cows had a two- to three-fold increased risk of abortion compared with N. caninum seronegative cows. Retrospective examination showed that seropositive nonaborting cows had an increased risk of abortion before the outbreaks, which may indicate that these animals were infected with N. caninum prior to the outbreaks. It is concluded that serostatus can be used for selective culling of cows to decrease future risk of abortion in dairy herds.

Abortion, Veterinary↗
PubMed2002

Short-term complications after surgically induced abortions: a register-based study of 56 117 abortions.

BACKGROUND: Performing an induced abortion is a rather simple medical procedure which is frequently done and side-effects will have public health implications unless they are very rare. We estimated the incidence of side-effects detected during the stay at the hospital and 2 weeks after the discharge. We only include side-effects reported by clinics or hospitals. METHODS: Altogether 56 117 induced abortions performed by public hospitals in Denmark from 1980 to 1994 were analyzed in this study. The study combined results from the mandatory reporting of side-effects to the National Induced Abortion Registry and all diagnoses reported to the Hospital Discharge Registry. RESULTS: Side-effects in the form of bleeding, infections or re-evacuation were recorded for about 5%. We found more side-effects in teenage women and for abortions performed late in pregnancy. We found nothing to indicate that the frequency of side-effects following an abortion changed over time. CONCLUSIONS: About 5% have side-effects registered by hospitals following an induced abortion. The long-term consequences of this are not known.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed2002

[Medical abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol: study of the efficacy, somatic tolerance and perception of medical abortion].

STUDY DESIGN: This prospective study examined the efficacy and somatic tolerance as well as the perception of the different phases of medical abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol. The subjective influence of counseling and accompanying on perception and psychic sequelae was evaluated. METHOD: The somatic data of the patients who had a medical abortion at Basel University Hospital of Gynecology and Obstetrics from December 1, 1999, to October 31, 2000, were identified in the case records. A questionnaire at the time of the abortion and a structured interview by telephone 6 months later were used to assess the perception of the abortion. RESULTS: Abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol was successful in 95.2% of cases. Counseling and accompanying were considered supportive by 90.4 and 73.7%, respectively. The psychological workup was without problems in 95.5%. CONCLUSION: Medical abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol was successful in 95.2%. Our concept of counseling and accompanying was well received and resulted in an uneventful psychological workup in most cases.

Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal↗
PubMed1991

Health professionals' opinions regarding abortions and the abortion law in samples from Italy and Sweden.

The present study was undertaken to investigate the opinions of health professionals working in family planning clinics in Italy and Sweden. The comparison of two such different countries seemed of interest both to describe differences and/or similarities between the samples as well as to analyze factors that could influence professionals' opinions regarding abortion. A questionnaire was distributed to doctors, nurses and social workers in family planning clinics in Rome, Italy and in Gothenburg, Sweden. The opinions of the health professionals in the two countries investigated were similar in many respects, both regarding their attitudes to abortion as well as their considerations concerning the care offered to the woman/couple undergoing an abortion. Fifty-nine percent of the Italian sample and 68% of the Swedish sample considered abortion justifiable on the same indications as those laid down in the laws, while 36% of the Italian and 32% of the Swedish professionals considered it justifiable only on medical grounds and 5% in the Italian sample did not justify abortion at all. In both Italy and Sweden, doctors as well as nurses suggest that the preventive work should be increased and that the psychological care for women undergoing abortion has to be improved.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMed2003

Unsafe abortions in a developing country: has liberalisation of laws on abortions made a difference?

Unsafe abortion is still a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in Africa. To assess whether the introduction of legal abortions in South Africa has decreased admissions resulting from mid-trimester abortions, a prospective study of abortion cases admitted to the King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, South Africa, over a four-month period was carried out. Two hundred and four women were admitted with incomplete abortion; 49% of which were spontaneous, 17% certainly induced, 10% probably induced, 18% possibly induced and 4.3% legally induced. A change in the laws on termination of pregnancy (TOP) has resulted in a decrease in cases of incomplete abortion being admitted to the gynaecological wards. However, illegal TOPs are still prevalent for a variety of reasons. There is need to place more emphasis on the delivery of efficient contraceptive services and reproductive health education for women.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMed1975

Observations on abortions in cattle: a comparison of pathological, microbiological and immunological findings in aborted foetuses and foetuses collected at abattoirs.

Fifty nonaborted and 50 aborted bovine foetuses were examined utilizing histology, immunoelectrophoresis, bacteriology and the fluorescent antibody technique. Lesions were observed in 12 of the nonaborted foesuses and in four of these immunoglobulins were demonstrated. In addition, two of the nonaborted foetuses had immunoglobulins in the absence of observed lesions. Lesions were observed in 48 of the aborted foetuses and immunoglobulins were detected in 22 of these. An etiological diagnosis was arrived at in 24 of the 50 aborted foetuses. The tissues most frequently observed to have lesions of diagnostic significance were eyelid, intestine, liver, lung and placenta. Intestinal lesions were observed in several foetuses in association with a variety of agents including infectious bovine rhinotracheitis. Foetuses diagnosed as aborting because of mycotic infection consistently displayed lesions in their eyelids. The value of taking eyelid sections in cases of suspected mycotic abortions, the significance of foetal intestinal lesions, the evaluation of abomasal aspirates and the diagnostic importance of immunoglobulin determinations in aborted foetuses are discussed.

Abortion, Veterinary↗
PubMed1985

Missed abortion, and later spontaneous abortion, in pregnancies clinically normal at 7-12 wk.

One thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight mothers were examined by ultrasound at 7-12 wk gestation. Eighty-three (4.28%) were found to have a dead fetus or an empty gestation sac. Twenty-five (1.29%) had a live fetus at that scan but spontaneously aborted 1-13 wk later. The earlier in pregnancy the ultrasound was carried out the more likely was the pregnancy to be dead or subsequently to abort. Mothers aged 35 or over were more likely than other women to have dead pregnancies at the initial ultrasound or subsequently to abort: those of 19 or less were likely than other age groups to have a missed abortion but they had a rate of spontaneous abortion similar to those of 35 or more.

Abortion, Missed↗
PubMed1980

The Wessex abortion studies: I. Interdistrict variation in provision of abortion services.

An analysis of fertility and the provision of abortion and abortion-related services in the health districts of Wessex showed considerable variation between districts in the provision of formal family-planning services. The patterns of fertility varied between the districts and there appeared to be some relationship between family-planning provision and the rates for illegitimate and "legitimated" births and induced abortion. Although the region as a whole was meeting the demand of 42% of its abortion patients within the National Health Service, there was a considerable variation from district to district which could be explained only in part by variations in the provision of resources. The main differences could be accounted for by the attitudes of the women and of their general practitioners and consultants. Of Wessex women obtaining induced abortions privately at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (B.P.A.S.) clinic at Brighton, 85% said they would have been willing to have an N.H.S. operation locally if one had been available but that no choice had been offered. It is concluded that the differences in provision between the health districts are more likely to be explained by the attitudes of doctors to providing this service than by the wishes of women to use private medical treatment.

Abortion Applicants↗
PubMed1997

Reproductive characteristics and post-abortion health consequences in women undergoing illegal and legal abortion in Maputo.

In the Maputo Central Hospital 103 women undergoing induced legal abortion (LA), 103 women with confirmed, recent illegal abortion (IA), and 100 randomly recruited antenatal clinic (AC) attenders were compared in order to find characteristic features regarding obstetric history, reproductive performance and contraceptive knowledge, attitude and practice. Women with IA were younger, had almost never undergone LA, had more often their first sexual intercourse and their first pregnancy below 20 years of age, had less knowledge of contraceptives and more often had never used contraceptives, had fewer previous spontaneous abortions and fewer previous stillbirths than LA women. There were three maternal deaths, all in the IA group. The most frequent illegal abortionist was a health worker (38%). It is concluded that, in this first comparative African study on IA and LA regarding reproductive profile and post-abortion health consequences, the former are at a disadvantage regarding early unprotected sexual intercourse with first pregnancy at a young age and with almost no experience of safe, legal abortion.

Abortion, Illegal↗