| Abstract: | ![]()
Abortion has become a popular method of prevention of unwanted births in India since the passage in 1972 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. About 6 million procedures are performed each year. Of concern, however, is the failure on the part of many of these abortion patients to begin contraceptive use after pregnancy termination. To determine the extent of this problem and its sociodemographic correlates, an analysis was performed of the records of the 1482 abortion patients at an Agra hospital in 1976-85. Overall, contraceptive coverage after abortion was 53%; however, this rate fluctuated from 82% in 1976-77 to 15% in 1980-81 to a high of 90% in 1984-85. The methods most often selected by these women were tubectomy (25%), Nirodh (14%), oral contraceptives (8), and the IUD (6%). Contraceptive coverage was significantly higher in the final quarter of each year, presumably as a result of the efforts of family planning personnel to meet annual targets. Contraceptive coverage after abortion showed significant, positive associations with maternal age (39% in the 15-19-year age group versus 59% among those 30-34 years old), maternal education (41% among illiterate women compared to 62% among women with a high school education), and parity (18% among women of parity versus 45% among those of parity 1 and 62% among those to parity 4). Urban women were somewhat more likely to become contraceptive acceptors after abortion; however, tubectomy acceptance was highest among older rural women. These findings suggest that young, uneducated women should be targeted for counseling about the importance of contraceptive use after the termination of an unplanned pregnancy to avoid the need for repeat abortion. |
