Correlates of repeat abortions and their spacing: Evidence from registry data in Spain

TL;DR

This study uses Spanish registry data to identify demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with repeat abortions and their spacing, highlighting disparities based on education, employment, and origin.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the demographic and socioeconomic correlates of repeat abortions and their timing using comprehensive registry data from Spain.

Findings

Repeat abortions are more common among women with lower education and foreign-born status.

Women with dependent children or living alone are more likely to have repeat abortions.

Shorter intervals between abortions are linked to lower education, foreign-born status, and unemployment.

Abstract

Using administrative data on all induced abortions recorded in Spain in 2019, we analyze the characteristics of women undergoing repeat abortions and the spacing between these procedures. Our findings indicate that compared to women experiencing their first abortion, those who undergo repeat abortions are more likely to have lower education levels, have dependent children, live alone, or be foreign-born, with a non-monotonic relationship with age. We also report that being less educated, not employed, having dependent children, or being foreign-born are all strongly related to a higher number of repeat abortions. Lastly, we find that being less educated, foreign-born, or not employed is correlated with a shorter time interval between the last two abortions.