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Fertility After Induced Abortion: A Prospective Follow-Up Study

From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; and the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts

Abstract

Abortion has been alleged to cause sterility. To address this issue, 1235 postabortal women, 912 women recently delivered, and 939 women from the authors' gynecology clinics were studied for as long as 3.5 years. Cumulative pregnancy rates were similar for abortion group patients, delivery group patients, and the previously pregnant clinic group. When pregnancy rates were examined by different assumptions as to entrance into follow-up, the abortion group differed only in a somewhat lower pregnancy rate after nine months, when the use of contraceptives was greater than that of the other two groups. Pregnancy rates for all three groups were influenced by age of subject, parity, race, marital and Medicaid status, and a history of urinary tract infections. Induced abortion status did not influence pregnancy rates except that women reporting three or more induced abortions had a higher pregnancy rate.