Despite the importance of the issue of abortion in Brazil, it is difficult to know the exact extent of the problem owing to the fact that it is an illegal practice. Information about hospitalizations from the Ministry of Health has helped an admittedly incomplete understanding of the situation with regard to abortions carried out in the SUS (Unified Health System) hospital network. The objective of the study was to investigate the 53,861 hospitalizations diagnosed as abortion among women from 10 to 49 years of age in hospitals affiliated to SUS in the state of São Paulo in 1995, by type of abortion, age, and place of residence. In 1995, hospitalizations of women of child-bearing age in the state of São Paulo accounted for 37.8% of all hospitalizations paid for by SUS. Of these, 59.6% were caused by problems related to pregnancy, birth and puerperium. In turn, abortions accounted for approximately 10% of these. The distribution in Greater São Paulo and in the interior of São Paulo state shows that the abortion/delivery ratio is higher among women in Greater São Paulo than in the interior of the state (127.4 abortions per 1,000 deliveries in Greater São Paulo, as against 90.9 in the interior). The most common type of abortion was miscarriage (57.4%). Distribution by age shows the highest concentration to be between the ages of 20 and 29, as well as revealing that approximately 20% of all abortions occur among adolescents under 19 years of age.
Abortion; Wome'n health; Hospitalization; Hospital morbidity
