Background: Approximately 20 million unsafe abortions are performed worldwide every year. From the fragmented studies conducted in Ethiopia, we can see that the prevalence of induced abortion and its negative consequences are increasing from time to time in our country. Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitude, behavior and practice of women on abortion and to identify the most important determinant factors. Methods: A cross sectional study on 1346 women aged 15 to 49 was carried out in six rural and four urban 'kebeles' of northwest Ethiopia in March 2003. A structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data on abortion and related aspects. Results: Two hundred fifty six women (19%) had abortions and the prevalence rates of spontaneous and induced abortion were computed as 14.3% and 4.8%, respectively. A total of 573 (42.6%) women reported to be current users of contraceptives. Among the determinant factors included in the multivariate logistic regression model, place of residence, marital status, contraceptive use, number of pregnancies and level of education attained by the women were found to be significantly and independently associated with induced abortion ( P < .05 for each factor). Conclusion: Although most women had knowledge about family planning methods, only about two-fifths of them reported that they are current users of contraceptives. This study has shown the undeniable fact that the problem of abortion in general and induced abortion in particular is very high among the urban and rural women of our study areas. [Ethiop

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