Abortion withdrawal of sexual violence pregnancy: the role of the sex offender

Abstract

Introduction: Unwanted pregnancy is a serious consequence for women who experience sexual violence. Although deciding on abortion is frequent in these cases, there is not much information on women who give up abortion in this circumstance.
 Objective: To analyse the associated factors in abortion withdrawal of sexual violence pregnancy.
 Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiological study with a convenience sample of adolescents and women with pregnancy due to sexual violence and requesting legal abortion between August 1994 and December 2012, at Hospital Pérola Byington, São Paulo, Brazil. Pregnant women who gave up abortion after receiving the procedure approval were included and, in another group, pregnant women who completed the abortion. The variables were selected from a digitized database and analyzed using SPSS 15.0 software. The outcome was abortion withdrawal. The study variables were age; low education level; gestational age; color/black ethnicity; not being united; declare religion; serious threat from the aggressor; known offender; and residence of the aggressor. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. The analysis used Wald's chi-square test (?2W) and logistic regression with variable of interest defined as the known aggressor. The research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of São Paulo, Opinion No. 6767.
 Results: The study included 941 women, 849 (90.2%) who had an abortion and 92 (9.8%) who gave up after being approved. Age ranged from 10-46 years, mean 23.2 ± 7.9 years, gestational age 4-22 weeks, average 11.9 ± 4.5 weeks. Among those who gave up abortion, 12.0% were <14 years old; 50.0% had gestational age ? 13 weeks; 50.0% had low education; 14.2% were black; 90.2% single; 85.9% declared to have religion; 50.0% were threatened; 12.0% of the cases occurred at the perpetrator's residence and 53.3% of the victims were raped by known perpetrators. In logistic regression, the only significant variable was the known perpetrator, increasing the victim's chance of giving up abortion twice.
 Conclusion: The known sex offender has influenced the woman or adolescent's decision to give up legal abortion.

Gravidez decorrente de violência sexual: Caracterização sociodemográfica das mulheres e desfechos do aborto em um serviço público de referência, São Paulo, Brasil

“…41 O agressor sexual conhecido ou próximo da mulher parece ser o elemento mais importante relacionado aos casos em que o aborto não foi realizado, seja por desistência ou por idade gestacional avançada. Em nosso meio, Pimentel et al (2020) Os resultados deste estudo podem contribuir para o entendimento do fenômeno da violência contra a mulher, particularmente quanto a responsabilidade ética dos profissionais de saúde. 46,47 A gravidez forçada e o aborto nessas circunstâncias são questões relevantes para a saúde pública, principalmente nos países que mantém legislações restritivas ou proibitivas.…”

Perfil Dos Atropelamentos Na Cidade De Maceió No Ano De 2007

“…Em nossos resultados, a maioria das participantes declarou alguma religião, permitindo inferir que suas crenças não foram obstáculo para que recorressem ao aborto legal, como observado em nosso meio porBlake et al (2015) 12 e porPimentel et al (2020) …”

Decision making in adolescents: a multifaceted construct

“…Thus, in this issue 30.2, situations that require decision-making have also been discussed. It brings themes like decisions related to abortion in situations of sexual violence contextualized in the current legislation that ensures women that are influenced by the aggressor in the decision to give up legally requesting the termination of pregnancy 17 . In the same theme of women's health, it brings a study on the type of birth and its relation to child development, considering the increase in psychological risks in non-vaginal births 18 .…”