KUMJ | VOL. 20 | NO. 1 | ISSUE 77 | JANUARY - MARCH, 2022
Profile of Women receiving Second-trimester Safe Abortion Service at Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital
Shrestha S, Dangal G, Ghimire S
Abstract: Background
Second trimester abortions account for a small percentage of abortions globally.
Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures. Accessibility of safe and high quality
second-trimester abortion care can decrease severe complications associated with it.
Objective
The profile of women undergoing second-trimester abortion was assessed during
the study. The profile includes demographic and clinical aspects. The study also aims
to find out the rate of surgical and medical methods of abortion and to understand
its indications.
Method
It is a study based on retrospective data collected from charts available at the
comprehensive abortion care center at the Paropakar Maternity and Women’s
Hospital. The data from Shrawan to Magh 2077 B.S. was collected and calculations
were done on MS Excel.
Result
Higher proportion of women receiving second-trimester abortion were of the age
between 21-25 years (n=31; 31%). Most women were literate (n=69; 69%) and
n=38(38%) were nulliparous. The most common indication for abortion was maternal
mental issues (n=32; 32%). The rate of medical abortion was higher (n=71; 71%) than
surgical method of abortion (n=29; 29%).
Conclusion
There exists both demographic and clinical variations in women undergoing second-
trimester abortion. Though few women undergo second trimester abortion than
first-trimester the variation in profile is significant with most women referring
to second trimester abortion due to later diagnosis of pregnancy, women facing
financial and logistic barriers to health care, victims of violence and women with
pregnancy complications or fetal anomalies.
Keyword : Medical abortion, Surgical abortion, Trimester