| Summary: | Background and Aim: Although there are different rules for abortion in different societies, abortion has been declared valid under certain circumstances in order to save lives of mothers and healthy infants. This study aimed to identify the reasons for therapeutic abortion among the clients who referred to legal medical centers in Kurdistan province during the years 2000- 2011 and compare the reasons for their rejection and confirmation.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, medical records and records in legal medicine center in Kurdistan province were referred to and necessary information (demographic, maternal obstetrics, fetal age, admission date, cause and type of request and its results) were collected through the check list. Sampling was conducted through census method and all of the records of all pregnant women referring to this center to get permission for therapeutic abortion were studied. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and descriptive statistical analysis, T-test and X2.
Findings: 658 patients had referred to get permits for therapeutic abortion and 358 patients (4.54%) were issued the permit. The greatest number of clients were in the year 2009 (140 cases) and the highest percentage of confirmed cases (100%) were related to the year 2002. The most common reason for issuing permit was mother’s heart disease (56 cases) and fetus’s anencephaly (53 cases). The most common cause for not issuing the permit among the 300 rejected cases were maternal and fetal reasons, maternal mental disorder (35 cases) and multiple anomalies in the fetus (27 cases). Also, 20 cases of requests were rejected for gestational age (19 weeks or more).
Conclusion: It seems that despite the increasing number of applicants for therapeutic abortion in recent years, there has not been proper notification of the details for its legal process and there was a significant increase in the number of rejected cases. Therefore, there is a necessity for raising the awareness of the related medical staff, pregnant women and also other community members about the timing and indications for therapeutic abortion. Also, in certain high-risk groups methods of contraception should be used.
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