PURPOSE U.S. military women and dependents have few options for abortion when facing an unintended pregnancy overseas. Federal law prohibits the use of Department of Defense facilities and funds for abortion except when the woman's life is at risk, and privately funded abortions are permitted at military facilities only if a pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. The purpose of this study w...

Unintended pregnancy can carry serious consequences for women and their families. We estimate the incidence of pregnancy by intention status and outcome at worldwide, regional, and subregional levels for 2008, and we assess recent trends since 1995. Numbers of births are based on United Nations estimates. Induced abortions are estimated by projecting from recent trends. A model-based approach i...

BACKGROUND In recent decades we have observed a remarkable increase in the rate of caesarean section (CS) in both developed and developing countries, especially in China. However, the real reasons for this phenomenon are uncertain. Notably, the number of women requesting elective CS without accepted valid medical indication has also increased, generating a nationwide debate because several stud...

BACKGROUND Mifepristone, followed 48 hours later by administration of misoprostol, is a well-established regimen for medical termination of pregnancy (TOP). Although this regimen is effective, its inflexibility may limit its provision in an outpatient service. OBJECTIVE To confirm that misoprostol administration is effective whether administered 24, 48 or 72 hours after oral mifepristone. D...

Abortion has been mankind's most commonly used method of birth control. Today, both the social attitudes and medical practices are changing fast. New medical and smgical techniques are being developed for an easy and safe method tl) meet the increasing social demand for such a procedure. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 came to force irl India from 1st April 1972. From April, 1972...

In Brazil, the subject of induced abortion is controversial and considered by some to be a serious public health problem. On the other hand there are little data available as to its frequency and general characteristics. The difficulty encountered in obtaining reliable information is to be explained by the illegality of abortion that inhibits women from talking about their experience, and most ...

Despite legal restriction, induced abortions and resulting complications are common in Nigeria. Misoprostol administration for incomplete abortion was introduced in 3 Nigerian hospitals. The feasibility of the hospitals, patient and provider acceptability were assessed using questionnaire and interview guides administered to 205 women and 17 providers respectively. Amongst the women, 194 (95%) ...

BACKGROUND In order to ensure that legalized abortion in South Africa improves reproductive health, women must know that abortion is a legal option in the case of unwanted pregnancy. This study investigated knowledge of abortion legislation eight years after the introduction of legal abortion services in one province of South Africa. METHODS In 2004/2005, we conducted a cross-sectional study ...

The impact of an ectopic pregnancy in the next generation is unknown. Our aim was to compare reproductive outcomes in daughters of women with and without ectopic pregnancy. Designed as a historical prospective controlled cohort study with data collected in four Danish registries from 1977-2009, women with ectopic pregnancy during 1977-1982 were age-matched to women without ectopic pregnancy. Da...

Live births, induced abortions, and miscarriages/stillbirths are usually examined separately. This article combines the three outcomes to focus on pregnancy in Canada from 1974 to 1992. An estimated 525,100 pregnancies ended in Canada during 1992. While this was a substantial increase from 438,300 in 1974, the pregnancy rate in 1992-77 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44-was actually lowe...