Induced and unsafe abortion 20 years after the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 94: prevalence and sociodemographic characteristics. Favela México 70, São Vicente, São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Objective

This research aimed at calculating the prevalence of women with induced and unsafe abortion and spontaneous abortion as well as the sociodemographic characteristics associated to them in a low income population.

Method

It consists of a cross-sectional study, with a random sample of women in fertile age from 15 to 49 years of age, living in Favela México 70, in São Vicente-SP, performed in the last quarter of 2008. The method used for the analysis of the data was the Multiple Multinomial Logistic Regression in order to determine the main independent variables associated to the occurrence of induced abortion, with CI = 95% and p < 0.05. The statistical analyses were performed with the help of the SPSS software, version 17.0.

Results

Among the 860 women from 15 to 49 years of age living in this community, it was observed a median of 2 pregnancies for women without abortions and, for women who reported induced abortion, 51 women, a median of 4 pregnancies. It was also observed a mean of 2.53 live born children/women in the studied population. In the final Multiple Multinomial Logistic Regression model, there remained the following categorized independent variables: “number of live born children > 2″ (OR = 4.0), showing that women with 2 or more children have a 4-time-higher chance of inducing an abortion and “accepting abortion by lack of economic conditions” (OR = 11.5), which indicates that women without economic conditions of continuing pregnancy and/or raising one more child present an 11.5-time-higher chance of inducing an abortion.

Conclusions

It may be concluded that, by lack of an efficient contraception system and family planning, women with low income up to now, after 20 years of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 1994, resort to induced and unsafe abortion in order to diminish their own fertility and family size, in face of an unintended, unwanted or inopportune pregnancy.