The need for integrating family planning and postabortion care in China.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the need for integrating postabortion care with family planning services in China.


METHODS
We collected data from a clinic-based study of 24 abortion clinics in 3 large cities in China.


RESULTS
There was a total of 287 (10.3%) high-risk abortions among the 2780 respondents, 974 (35%) of whom had had repeated abortions and 48.4% had had 2 abortions within 1 year; 63.7% of the current pregnancies resulted from not using contraceptives; 28.8% and 19.8% of these new pregnancies, respectively, were due to the failure of the rhythm or the withdrawal method; only 9.7% of the respondents consistently used condoms; and only 9.1% could identify the correct time of their first ovulation following an abortion.


CONCLUSIONS
Contraceptive neglect and the high rates of repeated and high-risk abortions call for the integration of postabortion care with family planning services in China.
Cheng
Yimin
Y
National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing, China. Chengym55@yahoo.com.cn
Xu
Xiao
X
Xu
Juncai
J
Wuillaume
Françoise
F
Zhu
Jinliang
J
Gibson
Diana
D
Temmerman
Marleen
M