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Coerced sexual debut and lifetime abortion attempts among women in Rakai, Uganda
Author(s) -
Polis Chelsea B.,
Lutalo Tom,
Wawer Maria,
Serwadda David,
Kigozi Godfrey,
Nalugoda Fred,
Kiwanuka Noah,
Gray Ronald
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2008.10.002
Subject(s) - medicine , abortion , sexual coercion , demography , logistic regression , population , reproductive health , coercion (linguistics) , odds , multivariate analysis , odds ratio , pregnancy , poison control , environmental health , injury prevention , linguistics , sociology , biology , genetics , philosophy , pathology
Objective To assess whether reported coercion at sexual debut is associated with a greater lifetime risk of attempting an abortion among women in Rakai, Uganda. Methods Analysis of data from sexually experienced, ever‐pregnant women in a longitudinal, population‐based, open cohort study in 56 rural communities in Rakai, Uganda (n = 4784). For univariate analysis, the t test was used for continuous variables and the Pearson χ 2 or Fisher exact tests for categorical variables. Multivariate logistic regression was used to control for potential confounding. Results Twenty percent of women reported coercion at sexual debut. Compared with women who reported consensual sexual debut, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of subsequent abortion attempts among coerced women was 1.57 (95% CI, 1.11–2.20). Conclusion There is a need to protect women from sexual coercion, implement policies for prevention of violence, and provide comprehensive reproductive health care, including prevention of unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions.