Reproductive “Tomorrow” Begins Today

BACKGROUND: Abortion is one of the most significant medical and social factors that have a negative impact on women’s reproductive health and cause a decrease in fertility and an increase in reproductive loss, maternal mortality, and gynecological morbidity, thus exacerbating the challenging demographic situation.

AIM: The aim of this study was to draw up a medical and social portrait of a woman having an abortion and to identify factors that limit the birth of children for women and men.

METHODS: We conducted a medical and sociological survey using the questionnaire method in Google Forms for three groups of the Chita population. The main group (Group 1) consisted of 470 women aged 18 to 35 years who had not had an abortion. The comparison group (Group 2) included 75 women who had had one or more abortions in the past at the age of 15 to 46 years. Group 3 comprised 137 men aged 17 to 49 years. Statistical data processing was performed in the IBM SPSS Statistics 27.0.1 program. The χ² Pearson criterion was used in the analysis of the qualitative feature of the study groups. The values were considered significant at p < 0.05.

RESULTS: More than half of the respondents in Group 1 were out of wedlock, so were a third of those who had an abortion in Group 2. Men in Group 3 tended to lack marriage. Prior to termination of pregnancy, the predominant use of barrier contraceptives was noted in Groups 2 and 3. The majority of respondents in all the study groups were informed about the consequences of abortion. The most common method of choosing termination of pregnancy was medication. In most cases, women were given a “week of silence” to think about a decision. Half of the respondents felt regret after termination of their pregnancy. Dissatisfaction with the procedure was noted by 38 patients. The leading factors in favor of termination of pregnancy in the study groups were as follows: unwillingness to have a child, poor financial support, and a difficult life situation. The presence of childfree individuals was revealed, the main reason for which is their dislike of children.

CONCLUSION: The main factors that limit the birth of children are the present unwillingness to have children (“delayed pregnancy”), low income and poor housing conditions, financial strain, as well as the presence of the childfree subculture. The provision of a “silence period” for women before abortion had no effect on the revision of reproductive plans.