Associated factors on decision-making process to abortion in Spain

Laia Ferrer, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Introduction In Spain there’s a large proportion of pregnancy ended in an induced abortion (IA) but there’s a limited literature about associated factors related to it. Age appears as an important mediated factor in IA. The objective to this paper is to study the impact of sociodemographic and reproductive characteristics and factors related to relationship on the decision of Spanish women in different age groups about whether or not to continue a pregnancy Methods All pregnancies which it outcomes is known in Spain in 2008, either in live births and in induced abortion, are obtained from both national statistics (birth and induced abortion official statistics). The variables considered were age, country of birth, Autonomous Community of residence, size of place of residence, level of education and work status, cohabitation status and number of children before last pregnancy. Stratified analysis according to age (<25, 25–34,>35 years) was used in order to study the impact of different factors on decision-making process to abortion among women belonging to different age groups. The chi square test was used to analyse the relation between the different factors related to decision to abort separately within each age group and for the study sample as a whole. Separate multivariate logistic regression models were run for each of the three age groups. Results Reproductive history characteristics appears as an important factor related to decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy as well as factors related to the relationship, both factors are especially important among women 25 years old or older. Among younger women the factor more clearly linked to terminate a pregnancy was the education level. Conclusions The impact of sociodemographic, reproductive characteristics and factors related to the relationship on decision-making process to abortion varies according to the different age groups.