Personal and work-related factors that impact the decision to have the first and recurrent abortion among women in Serbia.

Despite the wide availability of contraception, the abortion rate in Serbia remains high. Being in a steady relationship and perceiving low risk to catch sexually transmitted infections have been identified as the most common reason to not use condom, while around 11% of females used oral contraceptive pill. The study aim was to investigate the reasons of Serbian women to seek induced abortion as well as the factors that might impact the decision to terminate pregnancy. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Clinic for Ob/Gyn, University Clinical Centre of Serbia in Belgrade, which is a referral public tertiary health care institution. Women who underwent induced abortions from 2022 to 2024 filled in a questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, life-style and habits, medical history and motives for an induced abortion. Multivariate regression models were used to identify factors associated with each reported abortion motive. The study analyzed 433 women aged 16 to 49 years (mean 32.0 years). The most common motives for abortion were already having enough children (44.3%) and financial difficulties for child upbringing (42.0%). In contrast, gaining weight and concerns about physical changes due to pregnancy was the least endorsed reason for seeking an abortion. The majority of women (52.9%) reported multiple motives for abortion. Motives were generally the same for women who the first and recurrent abortion. Most common factors influencing the decision to terminate pregnancy were not being in a relationship or marriage and vigorous physical activity at workplace. One-half of women had multiple motives for abortion and more than 50% of women sought abortion multiple times. The most important factors associated with voluntary abortion seeking is not having a steady partner and working in a physically demanding job. These findings should be considered in the public health policy agenda.