P02-175 - Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy in Unmarried Girls

Abstract

Introduction

The voluntary interruption of pregnancy (or voluntary abortion), authorized in Tunisia since 1973, has always been a public health problem, given the number of women affected each year.

The objective of this work was to develop, through a descriptive study, the profile of girls who aborted in the regional center of family planning (FP)of Sfax.

Material and methods

This is a descriptive study, conducted in the regional center of FP of Sfax, with 130 unmarried girls, who asked for abortion during the period from October 2008 to June 2009.

Results

In our series, the girls had an average age of 25.4 years and the majority was between 20 and 29 years.

Most of them were from urban origin (63.1% versus 36.9% rural origin).

63.9% had a primary or a secondary education and 70.9% had low socioeconomic status.

More than half of the studied girls (55.4%) lived with their families. The rest lived independently or in dormitories.

The majority of surveyed girls’ parents (76.9%) lived together.

The existence of major family problems was reported at 65.3% cases, essentially family violence (49.3%) and financial problems (45.6%).

Conclusion

It appears from this work that the risk factors involved in most of the unwanted pregnancies with abortion are:

1. . The young adulthood with a longer period of celibacy.

2. . The urban origin.

3. . The low education level.

4. . The low socioeconomics status.

5. . The lacks of family communication.

6. . The existence of major family problems, mostly violence and financial problems.