Population Council Research that makes a difference

APHA 139th Annual Meeting and Exposition
29 October–2 November 2011

Abstract

"Trends in legal abortion services in Mexico City MOH facilities, 2007–2010"
Armando Ahued Ortega, Marieke G. Van Dijk, Jorge Morales, Claudia Diaz, Jorge Valencia, and Sandra Garcia

In April 2007 abortion was legalized during the first 12 weeks of gestation, prompting the Mexico City Ministry of Health (MOH) to launch its legal pregnancy termination program (ILE; in Spanish: Interrupción Legal de Embarazo). To date, approximately 52,400 women from the capital city and from other Mexican states have accessed ILE services through Mexico City MOH facilities. This study describes the reproductive health and sociodemographic characteristics of an anonymous subset of women who accessed ILE over three parallel time periods between 2007 and 2010. Results indicate that over the study period the total number of ILE procedures increased by 14 percent. Among Mexico City residents the proportion increased from 62 percent to 72 percent while it decreased among women from neighboring states from 36 percent to 24 percent. The proportion of women who reported lacking health insurance decreased from 81 percent to 72 percent. There were no changes with regard to women's occupations. Concerning the type of ILE procedures utilized, the proportion using misoprostol only increased from 37 percent to 50 percent, the proportion accessing MVA procedures increased from 5 percent to 13 percent, and there was a decrease in the proportion of women accessing D&C procedures from 22 percent to less than 1 percent. The median gestational age over the three-year period was eight weeks. These results indicate that a large-scale data collection system is useful for understanding trends among women accessing ILE services and in the types of services provided. The ILE program is filling an important and formerly unmet need for reproductive health services among Mexican many women.

Learning areas

• Provision of health care to the public
  
  

Learning objectives

• Describe the reproductive health and sociodemographic characteristics of women seeking legal pregnancy termination in Mexico City between 2007 and 2010.

 

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