Profile of abortion seekers in the Colombo District and reasons for having induced abortions

Abstract

The objectives of this paper are to identify (a) the profile of women' seeking induced abortion and (b) the reasons for having them. The opinions of a group of respondents professionally involved with abortion cases in the Colombo district were investigated using a self-administered questionnaire, in 1998-99. Two hundred and forty seven health professionals were selected as respondents. One hundred and nineteen of them returned the questionnaire and, 92.43% of them had seen abortion cases in their professional career. The study obtained the information on the most recent abortion, seeker. In addition, the respondents ranked a given set of reasons that lead women to seek induced abortion. Over 3/4 of those seeking abortion were married and, over 50% of them were non-working women. A little over 50% of them were among the middle income group and, over 78% of them had some form of schooling. Over 50% of abortion cases were between 21-30 years of age. A majority of these abortion seekers were living in urban areas. Unwanted pregnancy was ranked first by nearly a 2/3 of the respondents as the most important reason for having induced abortion. Being an unmarried mother was ranked second by nearly 1/3 and, ranked first by about 17% of them. Contraceptive failure was placed third in the ranking. Pregnancy as a risk to maternal health and the potential risk for the unborn child were considered to be less important reasons for abortions. These opinions provide better information on the abortion issue, in the illegal context. The opinions, however, are basically ‘approximations’, and, therefore, may be subject to some errors. The validity of the results should be measured by the direct studies of abortion seekers.