Faulty contraception main reason for abortions in South Australia
Two-thirds of all pregnant women seeking abortions in one Australian state are doing so because their contraception methods failed. The study, to be published today, looked at the experiences of 3400 women who presented at a southern Adelaide clinic for abortions in the past decade.
Between July 1996, and June 2006, nearly 70 per cent of the 3434 women who presented for an abortion were using contraception.
About 36 per cent were using barrier methods such as condoms, a further 28 per cent were using hormone methods such as the pill, while 3 per cent were using natural family planning methods.
The study authors from Flinders University, Wendy Abigail, Charmaine Power and Ingrid Belan, said the findings “dispel the myth” that women use abortion as a method of contraception.
“It is often reported in the media that women are irresponsible with contraception usage and that pregnancy terminations are used as a form of contraception,” they said.
“The majority of women in this study used some form of contraception at the time of conception.”
They said more research was needed into the findings about contraception and into abortion rates generally.
“Further research is needed to explore why contraception methods are failing.
“There were no studies worldwide in the past 11 years that specifically examined trends in the characteristics of the number of first ever pregnancies which ended up in a termination, contraception choices post-operatively or referral source.”
The study, to be published today in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, also found a “significant increase” in the number of women aged 30 to 50 years having abortions.
In 1996-97, 85 women in that age group presented for abortions. That figure rose to 118 in 2005-06.
“There are currently very strong social and economic forces in society that exert pressure towards later childbearing, such as the expansion of education and increasingly competitive work situations,” the authors said.
There were no significant changes in trends in women aged 19 years and under or women aged 20 to 29.
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,26278,23837847-5007185,00.html
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