Premium
The effect of a policy change on late termination of pregnancy in Israel
Author(s) -
Aviram Amir,
Fishman Ami,
Steinberg Maya,
Solt Ido,
Aviram Rami
Publication year - 2014
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.2013.10.016
Subject(s) - medicine , pregnancy , pregnancy rate , retrospective cohort study , obstetrics , gynecology , surgery , pediatrics , genetics , biology
Objective To compare approval rates of late termination of pregnancy (LTOP) requests before and after a policy change in Israel in late 2007. Methods In a retrospective study, LTOP requests and board decisions from 2002–2007 (group 1) were compared with those from 2007–2012 (group 2) at 3 university‐affiliated medical centers in Israel. Reasons for application, approval, or rejection were compared between the groups. Results There were 552 applications for LTOP. The overall approval rate for LTOP and the specific approval rate per medical indication did not differ significantly between the groups. The rate of requests due to confirmed genetic anomalies decreased from 18.4% in group 1 to 11.3% in group 2 ( P = 0.03). Compared with group 1, the rate of rejection for intrauterine infection increased from 8.3% to 26.3% ( P = 0.2), and that for pregnancy complications decreased from 62.5% to 35.0% ( P = 0.2) in group 2 but these differences were not statistically significant. Requests due to structural anomalies were declined because they were considered to be minor cardiac, renal, cerebral, or skeletal anomalies. Conclusion The more stringent 2007 criteria for approving requests for LTOP did not affect the rate of rejection of requests due to structural anomalies between the 2 time periods.