Counselling on contraceptive use strengthened in Dominican Republic.

In the Dominican Republic a study was conducted to identify the main factors associated with the occurrence of induced abortion. The study involved interviews with 350 women admitted in two hospitals with abortion complications, review of their clinical records, and in-depth interviews with 30 of these patients. The results indicated that the majority of these women had a low socioeconomic status and a low level of education. Many were born in rural areas but had migrated to Santo Domingo, the capital, in search of employment. Their average age was about 26 years. Adolescents represented 16% of the total study sample. Most of these women were in some sort of union, but only 13% were formally married. Contrary to popular belief that it is only unmarried adolescents who resort to induced abortions, the study showed that the majority were in permanent or semi-permanent unions. In fact, most of them had been in the union for three or more years. The use of contraception was low and unsystematic, with high discontinuation rates. Although 75% of the total study population declared to have used at least one contraceptive method during their lifetime, only 42% had tried a second method. This project has had a significant policy impact. In 1993, a revised Health Code was presented to the Dominican Congress for discussion and approval. The Senator who introduced this legislation, using results from the study, proposed to modify the law with respect to therapeutic abortions to include a clause that would make abortion legal under certain conditions and make corresponding services available as part of maternal and child health care programs. Also, with a view to lowering the incidence of abortion, PROFAMILIA, an agency affiliated to the international Planned Parenthood Federation, has adopted improved measures, reinforcing counselling and communication efforts to improve understanding of the correct way of using modern methods.