Wednesday, February 5, 1997, Page A6
Toronto Globe and Mail
By Alanna Mitchell

About 16.5 per cent of Canadian women had had an abortion by 1993, a figure that has risen steadily from 4.1 per cent in 1975, according to a study on Canada's abortion's numbers published yesterday in the U.S. journal Family Planning Perspectives.

These percentages, based on Statistics Canada data, have not been published before. They are the result of a collaboration between senior Statscan analysts Surinder Wadhera and Wayne Millar, and Stanley Henshaw, deputy director of research at the Alan Guttmacher Institute in New York.

Mr. Henshaw provided the statistical model necessary to produce these calculations. The Guttmacher Institute publishes Family Planning Perspectives, a peer-reviewed journal.

The three authors reckoned that if the 1993 rate prevails, over 34 percent of all Canadian women -- or about one in three -- will have had an abortion at some time in their lives.

Mr. Wadhera said, however, that the patterns in other countries that have had access to abortion for many decades suggest that this high percentage eventually may level off as the first generation to have access to the operation moves past child-bearing years. Abortion was first legalized in Canada in 1969.

It is imporant to understand this number because although Canadians long have debated whether abortion is a right, they have never before had a clear picture of the number of women personally and directly affected by the issue.

William Fisher, a professor of psychology and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Western Ontario in London, said the new numbers may help Canadians change the way they see abortion -- either for good or for ill -- as they become aware of how common it is.

"People don't talk widely about relatively private reproductive issues," he said, adding: "These are not dinner-table conversations."

In fact, Sabina McLuhan, a spokeswoman for the anti-abortion group Campaign Life Coalition, said the figures -- especially the forecasts -- as so shocking as to make her resolve to press more strongly for a range of social policies that would help Canadian women decide to give birth rather than abort.

Calling the scope of abortion an "epidemic," she said serious thought ought to be given to such policies as tax breaks for parents who wish to stay at home with young children and possibly measures to help spouses solve their problems rather than divorce.

"We have to start focusing on making families strong again," she said.

The paper also contains the first numbers on the rate of repeat abortions and the rate of first-time abortions in Canada. It is the first time that either number has been published for any country. As well, the paper provides some glimpses into why women choose abortion.

The statistical analysis found that 29 per cent of abortions in 1993 were done on women who had had at least one previous abortion. In 1975, only 9 per cent were.

That means that in 1993, 27 of 1,000 women had ever had an abortion underwent another one. In 1975, the repeat-abortion rate was 22.1.

The repeat-abortion rate in 1993 was highest for women aged 15 to 19, at 80.9 for every 1,000 who had ever had an abortion. In fact, the numbers show that teenaged women were by far the most likely to have a repeat abortion in 1993. In 1975, teenagers' repeat abortion rate was 21.5.

These numbers long have been sought by doctors and policy makers because they may provide clues about whether women who have abortions are relying on them as a regular means of birth control. Some of those concerned over the growing number of abortions worry that there may be a cumulative effect on women's health and future pregnancies from having more than one abortion.

As well, medical experts suggest it is possible to avert many therapeutic abortions. Dr. Fisher said the figures may point to a need for greater education about birth control, for example.

The paper's authors suggest that more intensive contraceptive counselling be provided to young, first-time abortion patients in a bid to forestall repeat abortions in this group.

On the whole, however, the paper's authors conclude that few, if any, Canadian women use abortion as a long-term, primary method of birth control. But they said it appears a subgroup of the teenage population is relying on abortion more and more. They note the striking rise in the repeat-abortion rate among this group as evidence of this phenomenon.

The paper had other, potentially controversial, findings. It found that repeat abortion is most prevalent among women in common-law relationships, a sign that these relationships may not be as stable as others. As well, women who previously had been married had an above-average percentage of repeat abortions.