Induced abortions in Denmark

Abstract

Background: A law on Induced Abortion on Request came into force in Denmark in 1973. During the first years the rate of abortion increased but since the early 1980s the rate has been rather constant. The paper reviews recent findings concerning induced abortion and discusses its role in controlling fertility.

Methods: Trends in induced abortion is described from routine statistics while information on the aborting women are taken both from a survey and from a register based study of fertility- and abortion-pattern among a cohort of women.

Results: Fertility trends in Denmark are characterized by an increasing age at first birth. Half of the aborters to day have no children before and 10% had given birth less than 18 months earlier. Among aborters a higher proportion than among parturients were still under education and a higher proportion were single with no steady partner. Half of the aborters became pregnant in spite of contraceptive use, indicating a need for better contraceptives.

Conclusions: Induced abortion has become a generally accepted form of birth control in Denmark and the decision to terminate a pregnancy is influenced by many factors including the woman's conjugal--and educational situation. A strategy for prevention of induced abortion must take into consideration the social circumstances of women and for families with children.

PIP: Since 1973, women in Denmark have been entitled to abortion on demand free of charge up to the 12th week of pregnancy. Statistics on legal abortions submitted to the National Board of Health by Denmark's public hospitals (the required site of all such procedures) were based on a woman's personal identification number. The number of abortions peaked at 27,884 in 1975, but declined to 18,687 by 1993. The increase in the average age at first birth from 23.4 years in 1970 to 27.2 years in 1993 was facilitated by widespread access to abortion and contraception. Women 20-29 years of age accounted for about half of all pregnancy terminations and half of abortion seekers were childless. In addition, abortion patients were more likely to be single with no steady boyfriend and still in school than were women who gave birth. 10% of women who underwent abortion in 1993 had given birth less than 18 months earlier, indicating abortion was used to obtain the desired spacing between births. 5% of women born in 1959 who had an abortion sought a repeat abortion in the subsequent 12 months and another 5% aborted in the second year. The probability of a repeat abortion in this cohort was lower among women who had a first abortion before age 17 years.