[Characteristics of women who have abortions between 14 and 16 weeks of pregnancy]

In our country, the deadline for abortion was recently extended from 14 to 16 weeks of pregnancy. Information about the characteristics of women who have late abortions is limited. This article aims to compare the characteristics of women having a late abortion with those having an abortion before 14 weeks.

A case-control study was conducted on women who had an abortion at our centre between December 2022 and May 2023. The cases were women who had a late abortion and the controls were women who had an abortion before 14 weeks.

Of the 422 women treated at our centre during the study period, 323 were included in the study: 30 cases (9.3%) and 293 controls. Women undergoing late abortion were more frequently multiparous (53.3% vs. 28.0%, P=0.004), less frequently students (6.7% vs. 22.9%, P=0.04), and more frequently unemployed (43.3% vs. 26.3%, P=0.05). The pregnancy was more frequently desired or accepted at the time (30.0% vs. 3.8%, P<0.001) but tended to occur more often in the context of separation (31.0% vs. 10.3%, P=0.004) or intimate partner violence (41.4% vs. 25.6%, P=0.07).

Women who undergo late abortions at our centre tend to be multiparous and more accepting of their pregnancy initially than women who have abortions before 14 weeks of gestation. They are also more likely to experience relationship difficulties and are more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence.