WOMEN WHO HAVE ABORTIONS - ARE THEY DIFFERENT

Background The aim of the study is to test the hypothesis that there i s no difference between women who are currently undergoing an abortion and those who are not in an inner London health district. Methods One hundred and thirty-one consecutive attenders at an inner city day-car e abortion service were compared, using a self-administered questionna ire, with two other groups: a random sample of 142 women aged between 18 and 45 taken from the local Family Health Services Authority age-se x register, and 149 consecutive attenders at the district's antenatal clinic. Results Women in the abortion group were found to be very simi lar to those in the antenatal sample in terms of social class, obstetr ic history, ethnic origin and knowledge of contraception. Women in the population survey, however, were found to be older, of higher social class, more likely to be white and UK origin, and to have higher contr aceptive knowledge scores. However, when the results were adjusted for age, the differences in social class and several other variables disa ppeared, although differences in ethnic origin remained. Conclusion It was concluded that apart from age and ethnic origin, there were no di fferences between women who were having abortions and those who were n ot. The evidence points to abortion rates being a function of fertilit y rate, which is in turn a function of culture, rather than the result s of the activities of individual or sub-groups of women at particular risk.