Contraceptive attitudes and contraceptive failure among women requesting induced abortion in Denmark

To elucidate how contraceptive attitudes among Danish-born and immigrant women influence the request of induced abortion.

A case-control study, the case group comprising 1095 Danish-born women and 233 immigrant women requesting abortion, in comparison with a control group of 1295 pregnant women intending to give birth. The analysis used hospital-based questionnaire interviews.

Lack of contraceptive knowledge and experience of contraceptive problems were associated with the choice of abortion. This association was most pronounced among immigrant women, where women lacking knowledge had a 6-fold increased odds ratio (OR) and women having experienced problems a 5-fold increased OR for requesting abortion. Further, in this group of women, a partner's negative attitude towards contraception was associated with an 8-fold increased OR for requesting abortion. Contraceptive failure was prevalent; 21% of the women who did not plan to become pregnant but intended to give birth had experienced contraceptive failure. The same applied, respectively, for 45% of the Danish-born women and 36% of immigrant women, who requested abortion. Women who had experienced contraceptive failure were significantly more likely to request abortion.

Immigrant women seem to have more difficulties in using contraception than Danish-born women. To address this problem, there is a need for culturally sensitive information campaigns targeting this heterogonous group of women.