Women requesting a second or subsequent abortion should be screened for abuse

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7491.560-c

BMJ 2005;330:560 (12 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7491.560-c

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Women requesting a second or subsequent abortion should be screened for abuse

Quebec David Spurgeon

Women undergoing an abortion for a second or subsequent time were much more likely than woman undergoing a first abortion to have experienced physical abuse by a male partner, sexual abuse, or coercion, a study in the journal of the Canadian Medical Association shows. The researchers say that these findings show that women presenting for a second or subsequent abortion should be screened for such a history (CMAJ 2005;172:637-41).

Of 1127 women presenting to a regional centre in southwestern Ontario between August 1998 and May 1999 for a termination of pregnancy, 769 (68.2%) were undergoing a first abortion, 260 (23.1%) a second abortion, and 98 (8.7%) a third or subsequent abortion. The participants were young (mean (SD) age 23.7 (6.4) years), mostly white (971 (86%)) and mostly born in Canada (962 (85%)).

Of the women presenting for a first abortion, 181 (24%) reported a major conflict . . . [Full text of this article]

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