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[Impact of voluntary pregnancy termination on fertility in Catalonia]
1Servei d'Informació i Estudis, Departament de Sanitat i Seguretat Social, Barcelona.
Background:
The objectives of this study are to describe the recent evolution of fertility since 1975 and of the abortions since 1987, and to evaluate the effect of abortions in the total fertility in Catalonia (Spain) in 1993.
Methods:
Data were obtained from abortion register and live births from Instituto Nacional de Estadistica and from Institut d'Estadistica de Catalunya. Total fertility rate (TFR), modal age at childbearing (MACH) and average age at childbearing (AHUSE), both total and at first pregnancy were estimated using the number of live births, abortions and known pregnancies.
Results:
Fertility in Catalonia has decreased between 1975 and 1993 from 2.73 to 1.20 children per woman. In this period the mean age at childbearing has also been delayed from 28.3 to 29.8 years. The number of abortions have increased since their legalization in 1987, being currently near to 10,000 per year. For every six births one abortion is informed, being the ratio 2 to 1 in women younger than 20 years old. The TFG estimated for 74 the known pregnancies increases from 1.20 to 1.41 children per woman, and MACH is 3 months younger.
Conclusions:
Induced abortion has not shown a relevant weight to explain the low fertility rate in Catalonia in 1993.