Induced Abortion and the Risk of Subsequent Ectopic Pregnancy

This study assessed the effect of legal induced abortion on ectopic pregnancy risk by using a comparison group of reproductive-age women who were at risk of becoming pregnant during the same time period the women with ectopic pregnancy conceived. Cases were members of Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound who were hospitalized for ectopic pregnancy from October 1981 through September 1986 (N = 211). Controls were randomly selected members matched to cases on age and county of residence (N = 457). All subjects in this analysis had had one or more prior pregnancies. Eighty-eight cases (41.7 per cent) and 177 controls (38.7 per cent) had a history of one or more induced abortions. The relative risk of ectopic pregnancy associated with one abortion was 0.9 (95 per cent confidence interval 0.6, 1.3), adjusted for age, county, reference date, religion, gravidity, age at first pregnancy, lifetime number of sexual partners, and miscarriage history. Among women with two or more prior pregnancies, the risk associated with two or more abortions was 1.2 (0.6, 2.4). Controlling for pelvic inflammatory disease and use of intrauterine devices did not alter these risks. We conclude that legal abortion as performed in the US since 1970 has little or no influence on a woman's risk of ectopic pregnancy in subsequent pregnancies.