One in seven women at 40 has undergone abortion in Brazil

According to the 2021 National Abortion Survey (PNA), one in seven women, close to the age of 40, has undergone at least one abortion in Brazil. The survey was carried out in November 2021 and interviewed two thousand women in 125 municipalities.

The study, coordinated by anthropologist and professor at the University of Brasilia, Débora Diniz, indicates that more than half (52%) of all women who had an abortion were 19 years old or younger when they had their first abortion. Out of this contingent (under 19 years old), 46 percent were teenagers between 16 and 19 years old, and 6 percent were girls between 12 and 14 years old.

In this survey’s edition, the abortion rate registered a drop compared to the previous two ones, carried out in 2010 and 2016. In 2021, about 10 percent of the women interviewed said they had had at least one abortion in their lives, compared to 13 percent in 2016 and 15 percent in 2010. This decline can be explained by the increasing trend in the use of reversible contraceptive methods in Latin America and the Caribbean, the study reads.

In 2021, 21 percent of the women who had an abortion had a second procedure, called repeat abortion. Among them are predominantly black women.

Part of the interviewed women (39%) used medication to terminate pregnancy. The survey cites that the most used medication is actually indicated for the prevention and treatment of gastric ulcers. In addition, 43 percent of the women have been hospitalized to complete abortions, and many have suffered embarrassment in the hospitals.

The survey also indicated that unplanned pregnancies were common among women in Brazil. Two out of three pregnant women (66%) had not planned their pregnancy. Débora Diniz points to sex education as part of the solution "so that this last resource, the abortion, is not used."

Profile

The profile of the women who had abortions is similar to that of other research: they are of all ages in the reproductive cycle, religions, schooling, races, social classes, marital status, and regions of the country.

However, according to the researcher, "despite being ordinary women, who are everywhere, there is a higher concentration in the most vulnerable group. They are black women, indigenous, residents in the North and Northeast of the country, with less education and very young."

The 2,000 women interviewed by 2021 PNA were randomly chosen from among women who are literate, aged 18 to 39, and living in urban areas. The survey methodology uses a face-to-face questionnaire with sociodemographic questions such as age, religion, and income.

Another questionnaire with questions about abortion is filled out by the women themselves and deposited in a sealed ballot box. The survey coordinators believe that the technique to collect sensitive information reduces the rate of false answers, by protecting the anonymity of the interviewees.

Legal abortion

In Brazil, abortion is legal under three circumstances: pregnancy resulting from rape, when there is a risk of maternal death, and in case of fetal anencephaly (lack of formation of the fetal brain).

However, in practice, the scenario has been different. The Minister of Women, Cida Gonçalves, told Agência Brasil that "girls and women have faced barriers to access abortion, in situations provided by law." For her, the consequence is that "when the right to abortion is denied, for example, to a rape victim, the evidence points out that this woman will undergo it in an unsafe, clandestine way."