Data on 174,595 Norwegian women aged 15-44 who had an induced abortion between 1979 (when all abortions through 12 weeks of gestation were legalized) and 1990 reveals that the general abortion rate decreased by 12% among married women, while it remained unchanged among unmarried women. Unmarried women had higher abortion rates than did married women among all age-groups except teenagers, increasing from a difference of 11 abortions per 1,000 women in 1979-1981 to a difference of 13 per 1,000 in 1988-1990. Pregnancy terminations occurred at an earlier gestational age during the last three years of the study period, compared with the first three. Abortions beyond 12 gestational weeks, which require the approval of a hospital committee, decreased among unmarried women, while increasing somewhat among married women. A larger proportion of married women than unmarried women terminated pregnancies beyond 18 gestational weeks.
PIP: An analysis was conducted on data from 174,595 women, 15-44 years old, who had undergone an induced abortion during January 1979-December 1990 in Norway to determine abortion trends by marital status and age since the 1979 legalization of all abortions up to 12 weeks gestation. The annual number of abortions fell from 14,621 to 13,342 between 1979 and 1982 and gradually increased to 15,460 in 1990. The general abortion rate remained relatively the same during 1979-1990. The age-adjusted abortion rate had a significantly increasing trend. Yet when the general abortion rate was adjusted for age and marital status, it fell with time. The general abortion rate fell by 12% among married women, however, it did not change among unmarried women. Unmarried women had higher abortion rates for all age groups except 15-19 years than married women. During 1979-1980, the difference in the abortion rates for unmarried and married women was 11 abortions/1000 women, by 1988-1990, the difference had grown to 13 abortions/1000. A hospital committee had to approve abortions performed beyond 12 weeks. Later-gestational-age abortions were less common during the last three years than during the first three years (2.4 vs. 3.1/1000). They fell among unmarried women, while they increased among married women. Among married women, there was a significant increase in pregnancy terminations beyond 18 weeks (0.1% in 1979-1980 to 0.75% in 1988-1990; X2 = 97.2; p 0.0001). They were more likely to have these later stage terminations than unmarried women.