ArticleBMJ sexual & reproductive health2019
Trends in the method and gestational age of abortion in high-income countries.
Article in BMJ sexual & reproductive health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The use of telemedicine services for medical abortion.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- The Effect of Animated Educational Video to Reduce Anxiety Levels Before Outpatient Medical Abortion: A Randomised Controlled Trial.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2025Trial
- Regulatory Policy Changes and Mifepristone Access Through Pharmacies in Australia.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- If abortion substantially risks homicide, it should be illegal.Theoretical medicine and bioethics · 2026Article
- Risk of preterm birth and peripartal complications after first trimester termination of pregnancy: a retrospective cohort study of 35,897 singleton births.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2026Article
- Changes in local access to mifepristone dispensed by community pharmacies for medication abortion in Ontario: a population-based repeated cross-sectional study.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025Article
- Time trends and characteristics associated with abortion method used by young Australian women.International journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- PROTOCOL: Abortion and mental health outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Campbell systematic reviews · 2024Review
- Association between previous surgical termination of pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles of IVF/ICSI: a retrospective cohort study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A global scoping review of the circumstances of care seeking for abortion later in pregnancy.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- A prospective, comparative study of clinical outcomes following clinic-based versus self-use of medical abortion.BMJ sexual & reproductive health · 2023Article
- The Scourges: Why Abortion Is Even More Morally Serious than Miscarriage.The Journal of medicine and philosophy · 2023Article
- Saving more lives on time: Strategic policy implementation and financial inclusion for safe abortion in Indonesia during COVID-19 and beyond.Frontiers in global women's health · 2022Article
- Social inequalities in utilization of a feminist telehealth abortion service in Brazil: A multilevel analysis.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2022Article
- Abortion in Countries with Restrictive Abortion Laws-Possible Directions and Solutions from the Perspective of Poland.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Methods women use for induced abortion and sources of services: insights from poor urban settlements of Accra, Ghana.BMC women's health · 2021Review
- Does prior ultrasonography affect the safety of induced abortion at or after 13 weeks' gestation? A retrospective study.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2021Article
- Glancing at the past and course-setting for the future: lessons from the last decade of research on medication abortion in high-income countries.Reproductive health · 2021Review
- A Constructivist Vision of the First-Trimester Abortion Experience.Health and human rights · 2020Article
- Mandatory pre-abortion counseling is a barrier to accessing safe abortion services.The Pan African medical journal · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedCorrection:2019
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundExamining the distribution of abortions by method of abortion and gestational age at time of termination provides insight about the options women may have to terminate their pregnancies. Comparing these distributions across countries and over time is an important step toward understanding the factors that can drive these distributions, including regulations and practices related to the provision of abortion services, and women's preferences and needs.
methodsWe sought official statistics on gestational age and method of abortion for all high-income countries with liberal abortion laws. For the 24 high-income countries with available data, we calculated percentage distributions of abortions by gestational age of pregnancy and method of abortion for 2017 or the most recent year for which data were available, and assessed trends in the preceding 10 years whenever possible.
resultsMedication (or medical) abortion accounts for at least half of all abortions in the majority of countries. In the majority of countries over 90% of all abortions were completed before 13 weeks, and more than two-thirds of abortions occurred before the first 9 weeks of gestation. Over the past 10 years there has been an increase in both the proportion of abortions that were medication abortions and the proportion that were obtained before 9 weeks gestation.
conclusionsThese findings highlight changes in abortion provision in the past decade. More research is needed to understand whether the observed distributions are a function of women's preferences or of barriers to the timing and type of care they would prefer.
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