49. Fruktbarhet blant norske kvinner: Resultater fra ... - SSB

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of the pregnancy. The pattern of variations in the abortions is thus
mainly due to the fact that the induced abortions vary between groups.
The proportion of the registered pregnancies having been terminated
by an induced abortion increased from 2 per cent in the 1950s to 11
per cent in the 1970s. There has been no increase towards the end of the
1970s. The increase up to the end of the 1960s probably occurred within
all age groups. Thereafter, there has been a strong increase among the
very youngest (in particular among the teenagers). The increase has been
gradually smaller with increasing age, and from the age of 30 and upwards
it looks as if the women have already for a long time had an approximately
stable proportion of induced abortions.
A remarkable consequense of this development is the fact that the
proportion having ever had induced abortions is almost as large among the
young women as among the older ones. The frequency of births as well as
of spontaneous abortions are much more dependent on age than induced abortions.
If the number of women having had induced abortions is viewed only
relative to those within each group who have ever been pregnant, the
proportion having had induced abortions is reduced from 38 per cent among
the teenagers to about 13 per cent for women between the ages of 25 and
44. Measured in this way, 40 per cent of those who have been pregnant
and who have not cohabited, have had an induced abortion, against 14
per cent in the corresponding group who have cohabited.
First pregnancies of the women have comparatively high rates of
induced abortion, irrespective of the age at first pregnancy. The proportion
of pregnancies ending in an induced abortion is increasing strongly
with pregnancy number from the second pregnancy on.
It does not seem to be usual for women to have more than one induced
abortion, at least not among younger women. For a young woman the
effect of an induced abortion is to postpone a birth which would have come
too early in relation for instance to her education, occupational career,
cohabitational experience. When we study the spacing between first and
second pregnancy in relation to outcome of the pregnancies, it becames
quite clear that induced abortion is not used as a method for , prolonging
the interval between first and second birth. On the basis of these two conclusions,
we can say that induced abortion has not replaced contraception.
From previous investigations it has been concluded that induced
abortion have been most frequent in lower social classes. This is not
confirmed by our analysis. The rate of induced abortion is in particular
high among women under education, and it is increasing with the length