A NEW APPROACH TO ELICITING INFORMATION ABOUT INDUCED-ABORTION

Reliable quantitative data on abortion are sorely needed, particularly in developing countries. Past experience in large-scale survey resear ch has demonstrated that direct questioning on this subject results in significant underreporting. This article presents results of an exper iment to collect data on induced abortion in Cote d'Ivoire within the context of a family planning operations research study. First, questio ns were employed to broach the topic of unwanted pregnancy in a value- free manner, and then the potential for a variety of actions, includin g abortion, was acknowledged. The results indicate that approximately 25 percent of all women attending a family planning clinic on the day of the survey had had an induced abortion. The use of improved abortio n-related questions shows promise for providing more complete measurem ent of a neglected dimension of women's reproductive health.