Abortions

Abortion – termination (spontaneous or induced) of pregnancy before the fetus can survive outside the uterus.

Induced abortion includes voluntary and medically-indicated termination of pregnancy:

• Voluntary termination of pregnancy – termination of unwanted pregnancy, performed at the request of the pregnant woman before week 12 of pregnancy (ICD-10 code O04).
• Medically-indicated termination of pregnancy (therapeutic abortion) – termination of pregnancy, performed for medical reasons (when the pregnancy endangers the mother's health or when the fetus has a condition incompatible with normal life (ICD-10 code O04) before week 22 of pregnancy.

Pregnancy loss (miscarriage) – loss of pregnancy before 22 weeks:

• Spontaneous abortion – noninduced abortion before 22 weeks (ICD-10 code O03).
• Other abortion – includes pregnancies with abortive outcomes as hydatidiform mole and missed abortion (ICD-10 codes O01, O02.1).

A newborn with no signs of life at or after 22 completed weeks of gestation or if the duration of pregnancy is unknown, birth weight of at least 500 g, is considered a stillbirth.

If the fetus has vital signs before the 22nd week, it is considered an extremely preterm birth.

Abortion rate – the annual number of induced abortions divided by the mid-year female population estimates (women aged 15–49 years), multiplied by 1000.

Abortion ratio – the annual number of induced abortions per 100 live births. The annual number of induced abortions is divided by the number of live births and multiplied by 100.

Age – age in full years at a moment of time: age at last birthday.

Age-specific induced abortion rate – the annual number of induced abortions among women in a specific age group per 1000 women using the mid-year female population estimates in the same age group.

County – location of health care facility.

Place of residence – area or settlement where the woman lives permanently or most of the time. Usually, data of the place of residence registered in the population registry are used. Until 2017, data by the counties is distributed by the administrative division that existed before administrative reform (October 2017). Data starting from 2018 is distributed by new administrative division.

Total abortion rate – the sum of annual age-specific abortion rates (multiplied by five if five-year age groups are used), divided by 1000.

The basis for data collection is a pregnancy termination card that is filled for each termination (spontaneous or induced) of pregnancy at a health care provider. Data providers for the Estonian Abortion Registry include all health care providers (including private physicians) that perform pregnancy terminations and provide medical care for women with spontaneous terminated pregnancies in Estonia.

Allvee K, Karro H, Serkina V. Eesti Meditsiiniline Sünniregister 1992-2016. Eesti Abordiregister 1996-2016. Estonian Medical Birth Registry 1992-2016. Estonian Abortion Registry 1996-2016. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2017. Report is available here in pdf-format

Allvee K, Karro H, Serkina V. Eesti Meditsiiniline Sünniregister 1992-2015. Eesti Abordiregister 1996-2015. Estonian Medical Birth Registry 1992-2015. Estonian Abortion Registry 1996-2015. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2016. Report is available here in pdf-format

Allvee K, Karro H, Serkina V. Eesti Meditsiiniline Sünniregister 1992-2014. Eesti Abordiregister 1996-2014. Estonian Medical Birth Registry 1992-2014. Estonian Abortion Registry 1996-2014. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2015. Report is available here in pdf-format

Allvee K, Karro H, Serkina V. Eesti Meditsiiniline Sünniregister 1992-2013. Eesti Abordiregister 1996-2013. Estonian Medical Birth Registry 1992-2013. Estonian Abortion Registry 1996-2013. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2014. Report is available here in pdf-format

Allvee K, Karro H, Serkina V. Eesti Meditsiiniline Sünniregister 1992-2012. Eesti Abordiregister 1996-2012. Estonian Medical Birth Registry 1992-2012. Estonian Abortion Registry 1996-2012. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2013. Report is available here in pdf-format

All the reports, incl. previous years publications, are available on NIHD's webpage

More information about Estonian Medical Birth Registry and Estonian Abortion Registry on National Institute for Health Development's webpage.

Kärt Allvee

Estonian Medical Birth Register and Estonian Abortion Register

National Institute for Health Development

Phone: +372 6593 993

E-mail: Kart.Allvee@tai.ee

Viktoria Serkina

Estonian Medical Birth Register and Estonian Abortion Register

National Institute for Health Development

Phone: +372 6593 993

E-mail: Viktoria.Serkina@tai.ee

Updated: 11.06.2021