Trends in legal abortion services in Mexico City MOH facilities 2007-2010

In April 2007 abortion was legalized during the first 12 weeks of gestation prompting the Mexico City Ministry of Health (MOH) to launch its legal pregnancy termination program (ILE, in Spanish Interrupción Legal de Embarazo). To date, approximately 52,400 women from the capital city and from other Mexican states have accessed ILE services through Mexico City MOH facilities. This study describes the reproductive health and socio-demographic characteristics of an anonymous subset of women who accessed ILE over three parallel time periods between 2007 and 2010. Results indicate that over the study period the total number of ILE procedures increased by 14%. Among Mexico City residents the proportion increased from 62% to 72% while it decreased among women from neighboring states from 36% to 24%. The proportion of women who reported lacking health insurance decreased from 81% to 72%. There were no changes with regard to women's occupations. Concerning the type of ILE procedures utilized, the proportion using misoprostol only increased from 37% to 50%, the proportion accessing MVA procedures increased from 5% to 13%, and there was a decrease in the proportion of women accessing D&C procedures from 22% to less than 1%. The median gestational age over the three year period was eight weeks. These results indicate that a large-scale data collection system is useful for understanding trends among women accessing ILE services and in the types of services provided. The ILE program is filling an important and formerly unmet need for reproductive health services among Mexican many women.