Knowledge,attitude and practices about induced abortions among women of child bearing age at Bahawalpur

Objective: to see the level of knowledge,attitudes and common practices of women of child bearing age about induced abortions,so as to formulate recommendations for improving the state of affairs. study design: a cross sectional,descriptive study place and duration of study: the study was carried out in out-patient department of gynae unit-ii of bahawal victoria hospital (bvh),bahawalpur from 1 st april 2009 to 30 th september 2009. material and methods: women of child bearing age who had one or more induced abortions seeking advice for any gyneacological problem were included in this study. a questioner was filled for their demographic features and knowledge,attitudes and practices of women towards induced abortion. descriptive statistics were used for describing variable. results: a total 74 women were interviewed. 68% were between 25 to 35 years. 59% were grand multipara,62% belonged to poor socio-economic status. 6.7% got secondary and above education. more then 95% knew it as a sin & against islam. above 60% women wants it to be conducted by skilled person with sterilized instruments. only 7% don't know any other contraceptive method. 41% husbands don't aware of need of contraception. about 60% husbands knew not more then two methods. 66% females consider it a health risk & 69% aware of failure. 82% induced only once,39% got pain during it. chronic pelvic pain,menstrual problems & sepsis occurred in 70%,80% & 45% women respectively. no-one of them was willing to practice it again. only 37% husbands always facilitated their wives to opt some contraceptive method. 52% men never practiced any of male contraceptive method. conclusion: unsafe abortion constitutes a major threat to health and lives of women. most of them are multiparous,married at peak of their reproductive life and belong to poor economic status. most women knew it a sin,& lead to several short and long term morbidities. they are not willing to practice it again,& want easy accessibility to contraception and cooperation of husbands to improve quality of life.