Objective(s): To examine potential correlations between demographic characteristics and the decision to abort the pregnancy.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The sample comprised 888 women admitted for abortion or delivery to 15 educational hospitals of Tehran, Iran and Shahid Beheshti medical universities in Tehran from Jan to Feb 2004. Data on demographic characteristics and the decision to illegally terminate the pregnancy were collected via interviews and analyzed by performing multiple logistic regression.
Results: Among all participants, 388 (43.7%) with a mean age of 29.9± 6.3 had made a decision of induced abortion and 500 (56.3%) with a mean age of 24.9 ± 4.9 had not made such a decision.  This study showed unwanted pregnancy as the strongest determinant in the decision to abort the fetus. Other variables such as family income, female age and multi parity were also found to be related to the decision to undergo abortion.
Conclusion: This study indicated that some pregnant women might have higher risk than others and thus they need more education and support regarding the serious complications of induced abortion.