Abstract

Background: Worldwide 20 million unsafe abortions took place each year as a result of unintended pregnancies, with 95% of these performed in developing countries. Ethiopia ranks fifth in the number of maternal deaths in the world and about two third of these deaths are due to unsafe abortions. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of pregnancy termination and associated factors among women of reproductive age group in Ethiopia using 2011 Ethiopian Demography and Health Survey.

Methods: A secondary data was used to determine the prevalence of pregnancy termination and associated factors among women of reproductive age group in Ethiopia. Women in the age group of 15-49 years who had terminated pregnancy five years preceding the survey were included. The data were cleaned, coded and analyzed using Stata version 12. Multiple logistic regressions were used to identify factors associated with termination of pregnancy. Presence of confounders and interaction effects was investigated by computing relative changes on ß coefficients at a cutoff point 15%.

Results: The prevalence of termination of pregnancy was 9% among reproductive age group women in Ethiopia. Maternal media exposure (AOR=1.24, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.43), age of women (AOR=3.05, 95% CI: 2.36, 4.05), contraceptive non-user (AOR=1.43, 95% CI: 1.22, 1.67) and occupational status of the husband (AOR=1.77, 95% CI: 1.29, 2.42) were positively associated factors with termination of pregnancy.

Conclusion: Considerable proportion of women practiced termination of pregnancy. Maternal mass media exposure, contraceptive use, women occupation, marital status, age of women and husband occupation were the main factors for pregnancy termination. Emphasis needs to be given on access to family planning, mass media exposure, health education on consequences of early marriage and creating job opportunities.

Keywords: Pregnancy termination; Ethiopia demography; Health survey; Reproductive age group