A Multilevel Approach to the Study of Induced Abortion among Migrant Women in Italy

Patrizia Farina, Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca
Livia Elisa Ortensi, Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca

Overrepresentation of foreign women or ethnic minorities in national abortion statistics and unintended pregnancies estimations has been observed in many countries, emerging as a topic of highest interest in the analysis sexual and reproductive health. Using the data from the first Survey of Sexual and Reproductive Health of Migrant Women (SHMW) conducted in Italy in 2010 this analysis highlights the role of personal and community characteristics, along with use of contraception in the occurrence of induced abortion. The combined use of modern and traditional methods is a factor of risk. Women that had an abortion before migration have higher risk to repeat the experience in emigration. The high incidence of abortion among immigrant women observed in Italy cannot therefore be reduced only to difficulties related to migration processes because it is also strongly related to women’s biography.