Evolution and epidemiology of induced abortion in Italy

This article gives a historical and geographical overview of the use of ind uced abortion from the time of its legislation in 1978 under Law 194. First , we focus from a quantitative perspective on the dramatic changes that hav e occurred in Italy over the past twenty years, including a 40 percent drop in the number of abortions, and we offer some explanations for these chang es. Second, we illustrate the life patterns that are most typical of aborti on seekers in Italy and how they have changed over time: from the conjugal model, where thr motive id to limit the size of the family, to the extra ma rital model, spontaneous and unpredictable. Another emerging issue emphasiz ed in our work is the of abortion seeking by foreign women; over the past f ew years this phenomenon has become more relevant and merits attention.