Echographic examinations in 246 cases of voluntary interruption of pregnancy

: 246 women underwent legal induced abortion between June 1978 and December 1979 at the Hospital "SS. Annunziata" in Savigliano, Italy. Echography was used prior to the operation to determine exactly the duration of pregnancy and to gather indications on the intervention and on its possible difficulties. 4% of patients were 18 years of age, and 14% were 24 years of age. 67% came from other provinces, 53% were housewives, 77% were married, and 41% had elementary school education. Only 15.8% had been referred by private physicians. Reasons for requesting abortion were family reasons (56.5%), social reasons (16.6%) and economic reasons (11.3%); only 1.2% of requests were for fear of fetal malformations. 25.8% of abortions were done at the 10th week of gestation; 24.8% of women were nulliparous and, of these, 11.4% had had a previous abortion; 57.7% were multiparous, and, of these, 28.8% had had a previous abortion. 91% of operations were done through vacuum aspiration and 7.5% by aspiration and curettage. Echographic exploration prior to the operation revealed 2 phases of rapid growth of the fetus, up to the 8th week and from the 10th to the 13th week.