Post-abortion Complications and Treatment-seeking Behaviour among Women in India

Abstract

Studies on abortion, post-abortion complications and their treatment seeking behaviour
is limited in Indian context mainly because of the stigma and taboos associated with
abortion. The present study attempts to find out the place of abortion, post-abortion
complication and determinants of treatment-seeking behaviour of post-abortion
complications in India. Using the data from NFHS-4 and employing both bi-variate and
multivariate analyses, it found that more than half of the abortions happened in private
health facilities, one-fifth in public facilities and about one-fourth outside the health
facilities. Post-abortion complication is higher in the northern region, followed by the
central region. Fifteen per cent of women did not go for treatment for post-abortion
complications mainly because they can’t afford the treatment and social stigma.
Therefore, these women should have a priority in policy. As there is social stigma
attached to abortion in India, its reporting is a matter of concern. To minimize this,
awareness about abortion to the people should be created and women educated.