Intimate Partner Violence and Abortion: Evidence from Ukraine

Annie Dude, University of Chicago

Recent research has indentified intimate partner violence within a partnership as one reason why women who are pregnant might seek abortions (Saftlas et. al. 2010). Violent relationships are correlated with behaviors that result in a higher number of unintended pregnancies (Moore et. al. 2010), which are more likely to be terminated (Finer et. al. 2005). Abusive partners often coerce a woman to seek an abortion once she is pregnant (Silverman et. al. 2010). This study explores whether a woman’s experience of physical, sexual, and emotional violence within marriage are associated with recent and lifetime abortions using data from the 2007 Ukraine Demographic and Health Survey. Preliminary bivariate results indicate that emotional, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence are all significantly associated with a higher likelihood of having ever terminated a pregnancy. All three types of violence are also significantly associated with a woman terminating her most recent pregnancy.