Study of induced abortion based on the Georgian Birth Registry

Abstract

Abstract Among the countries of the WHO European region, Georgia has the highest numbers of abortion and comprise 420 per 1 000 live births. According the national law and regulation it is necessary to have a mandatory waiting period for five days before the induced abortion. In this study, we aim to assess the usability of different methods and evaluate the effectiveness of mandatory waiting period of induced abortions. We provided retrospective study of secondary data based on cases, extracted from the Georgian Birth Registry. The main variables used for the descriptive statistics were: demographic information of selected cases, parity, gestational age, mode of abortion, real length of mandatory waiting period from registration till the induced abortion. In 2018, was registered 13 612 cases of induced abortion before gestation week 12. Of these, most cases were observed in two age groups: 27.6% was performed among women aged 25-29 and 27.5% among women aged 30-34. From total reported induced abortion cases, 5.4% were provided by dilatation and curettage (from these, 12.6% occurred before 6 weeks gestation), 41.4% was performed by aspiration (from these, 6% occurred at 10-11 weeks of gestation), and 53.2% provided using medical drug-induction (from these, 1.2% occurred at 10-11 weeks of gestation). Of all cases, 14.5% were primiparous women. In 29.3% of cases there were not observed obligatory waiting period before the abortion. 68% of total cases changed the geographical location for the performing induced abortion. According our results, the application of methods of induced abortion is not fully in line with the international recommendations. Additionally, there is violation of national law for keeping mandatory waiting period before induced abortion. The mandatory waiting period before the induced abortion is less effective in Georgia. Moreover, the share of induced abortions performed during the first pregnancy is high. Key messages Health promotion educational activities should be concerned on providing proper information about negative aspects of induced abortion and promote other ways of contraception. Medical personnel should have continues education to be well aware about application of different methodologies of induced abortion.