Abstract
Introduction
Despite the universal recognition of unsafe abortion as a major public health problem, very little research has been conducted to document its precipitating factors in Burkina Faso. Our aim was to investigate the key determinants of induced abortion in a sample of women who sought postabortion care.
Materials and methods
A cross-sectional household survey was carried out from February to September 2012 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Data of 37 women who had had an induced abortion and 267 women who had had a spontaneous abortion were prospectively collected on sociodemographic characteristics, pregnancy and birth history, abortion experience, including previous abortion experience, and selected clinical information, including the type of abortion. A two-step regression analysis consisting of a univariate and a multivariate logistic regression was run on Stata version 11.2 in order to identify the key determinants of induced abortion.
Results
The findings indicated that 12% of all abortions were certainly induced. Three key factors were significantly and positively associated with the probability of having an induced abortion: whether the woman reported that her pregnancy was unwanted (odds ratio [OR] 10.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.59–30.41); whether the woman reported was living in a household headed by her parents (OR 6.83, 95% CI 2.42–19.24); and if the woman reported was divorced or widowed (OR 3.47, 95% CI 1.08–11.10). On the contrary, being married was protective against induced abortion, with women who reported being married having an 83% (OR 0.17, CI 0.03–0.89) lower chance of having an induced abortion, even when the pregnancy was unwanted.
Conclusion
This study has identified three major determinants of induced abortion in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Improved targeted programs on family planning counseling, methods of contraception, and availability of contraceptives should be widely promoted.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Gérard Ilboudo for his help, and Mireille Ilboudo and Amélie Zongo for their invaluable assistance during fieldwork. Special thanks to Henri Somé for his priceless assistance with data processing and cleaning. We are also grateful to Souleymane Kékélé, Gaston Soulama, and Yassiya Ouédraogo for data entry. We finally thank all the women who accepted to disclose their cases. This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway’s ECONPOP program (199730/H30).
Author contributions
All authors (except SMAS) participated in the design of the data collection instruments. The fieldwork was coordinated and supervised by PGCI. SMAS and PGCI analyzed the quantitative data. PGCI wrote the first draft of the paper, with specific inputs from SMAS and JS, who revised all subsequent drafts. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the findings and to the writing.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.