TABLES: Incidence of Induced Abortion in Southern Ghana

	International Family Planning Perspectives Volume 27, Number 2, June 2001
	Incidence of Induced Abortion in Southern Ghana TABLES

Table 1. Numbers of women, of pregnancies and of pregnancy outcomes, and abortion ratios and rates, by source of abortion data, Ghana, 1997-1998
Measure	Maternal Health Project	Korle-Bu Hospital
Measure	1997-1998	1997	1998
No. of women	18,301	55,779	52,131
No. of pregnancies	1,689	na	na
Abortions†	317	1,775	1,649
Term births	1,187	12,137	11,412
No. dead 42 days postpartum	9	na	na
Miscarriages	21	na	na
Stillbirths	15	na	na
Lost to follow-up	97	na	na
Refused to cooperate	43	na	na
Abortion ratio Per 100 births	27	15	14
Per 100 pregnancies	19	na	na
Abortion rate per 1,000 women	17	32	32
†For the Maternal Health Survey Project, abortions are induced abortions only. For the hospital data, abortions include both induced and spontaneous abortions. Notes: Abortion ratio is the annual number of abortions per 100 pregnancies (in the case of survey data) or births (in the case of routine hospital data). Abortion rate is the annual number of abortions per 1,000 women in the childbearing ages (15-49). The number lost to follow-up and the number refusing to cooperate were included in the denominator in calculating abortion rates and ratios, because although we could not tell what happened to them during the course of the study, we knew at the beginning of the study that they were each carrying a pregnancy. We also knew that all 43 women who refused to cooperate at later stages had successful deliveries. However, because they refused to participate in other aspects of the follow-up study by not answering questions, we had to drop them from the rest of the analysis. na=not applicable.

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Table 2. Percentage distribution of women who had an abortion, by selected characteristics
Characteristic	N	%
Age at abortion
15-19	14	4.5
20-24	81	25.5
25-29	96	30.4
30-34	76	23.9
35-39	39	12.3
40-44	8	2.4
45-49	3	1.0
Parity
0	115	36.3
1	58	18.3
2	78	24.6
3	33	10.4
4	16	5.0
5	9	2.9
>=6	8	2.5
Gestation (in weeks)
5	31	9.8
6	111	34.9
7	49	15.4
8	65	20.5
9	30	9.4
>=10	31	10.0
Type of provider
Pharmacist	121	38.2
Nurse/midwife	64	20.2
Physician	39	12.3
Self-medication	34	10.7
Quack doctor	51	16.1
Other (paramedical)	8	2.5
Total	317	100.0

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Table 3. Distribution of most recent and previous abortions by social and demographic characteristics
Characteristic	Most recent abortion		Previous abortion†
Characteristic	%	N	%	N
Status of preceding child (N=202)
Alive	62.5	126	68.0	137
Dead	37.5	76	32.0	65
Sex of last child (N=202)
Boy	54.8	111	50.8	103
Girl	45.2	91	49.2	99
Reasons for abortion
Unsure to bear child	56.6	180	33.8	107
Financial reasons	26.0	82	23.9	76
Accidental pregnancy	17.4	55	42.3	134
Education
None	26.9	85	28.4	90
Primary	40.4	128	41.5	132
Higher	17.4	55	16.2	51
Islamic	15.3	49	13.9	44
Marital status
Single	36.3	115	45.9	146
Married	63.7	202	54.1	171
Religion
Catholic	21.1	67	21.8	69
Protestant	60.0	190	59.3	188
Muslim	16.1	51	16.1	51
Traditional	2.8	9	2.8	9
Place of work‡
Home	34.8	110	24.9	79
Outside home	65.2	207	75.1	238
Type of work‡
Employee	25.6	81	20.7	66
Self-employed	47.8	152	47.0	149
Family worker	26.6	84	32.3	102
Setting
Urban	55.6	176	52.7	167
Rural	44.4	141	47.3	150
Total§	100.0	317	100.0	317
†All women in this sample who had an abortion had had a previous abortion. ‡Working at home means that a woman is involved in an income-generating activity that is carried out in her home. A woman who is self-employed earns an income from a business that she owns; she may work in or outside her home. A woman who is a family worker is involved in income-generating activity in a business owned by her family; a family worker may work at home or outside the home and may or may not be self-employed. §Totals are 317, except where otherwise noted.

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Table 4. Odds ratios for the association between induced abortion and women's social and demographic characteristics
Characteristics	Induced abortion
Religion
All others (ref)	1.00
Muslim	0.32***
Age	1.35
Education
None (ref)	1.00
Primary/Islamic†	0.64
Middle	1.96*
Secondary or higher	2.80**
Previous abortion
Yes	1.35**
No	1.00
Parity
1-2 (ref)	1.00
3-4	0.94
>=4	1.78**
Marital status
Married (ref)	1.00
Single	2.33**
Residence
Rural (ref)	1.00
Urban	1.24**
Category of work‡
Employee (ref)	1.00
Self-employed	1.71***
Family worker	0.13
Place of work‡
Home (ref)	1.00
Outside the home	1.56*
Log-likelihood	-1,287.9
N	1,549
Statistically significant at p<.05. Statistically significant at p<.01. *Statistically significant at p<.001. † For this model, primary and Islamic education were combined because they are not different in terms of academic qualifications. ‡Working at home means that a woman is involved in an income-generating activity that is carried out in her home. A woman who is self-employed earns an income from a business that she owns; she may work in or outside her home. A woman who is a family worker is involved in income-generating activity in a business owned by her family; a family worker may work at home or outside the home and may or may not be self-employed. Note:* ref=reference group.