[Induced abortion in Greenland]. / Provokeret abort i Grønland.

The purpose of the study was to seek knowledge about the reasons for the very high rate of legal abortions in Greenland. In four municipalities in the Disko Bay region of West Greenland all pregnant women were asked to fill in a questionnaire. Due to organisational problems only 39% of the women were asked to participate and a total of 82 women seeking abortion and 175 women who wished to continue the pregnancy were enrolled in the study. A few Danish women (22) were subsequently removed from the study base. The women who wanted an abortion were more often than the other women single, their knowledge of Danish as a second language was poorer, and they less often had a job. Although the age distributions of the two groups were similar the women who wanted an abortion had more often been pregnant before (more births and more abortions). The women who wanted an abortion more often than the other women reported having been drunk, having had a pelvic inflammation or VD, and having been admitted to hospital. Half of the women who wanted an abortion reported that they had forgotten to use their contraception and one fourth were opposed to the use of contraception. There seems not to be a well defined high risk group for legal abortion but a general need for a more realistic view on contraception.

PIP: The purpose of this study was to determine the reasons for the very high rate of legal abortions in Greenland. In four municipalities in the Disko Bay region of West Greenland all pregnant women were asked to fill out a questionnaire. Due to organizational problems, only 39% of the women were asked to participate and a total of 82 women seeking abortion and 175 women who wished to continue their pregnancy were enrolled in the study. A few Danish women (22) were subsequently removed from the study base. The women who wanted an abortion were single more frequently than the other women, their knowledge of Danish as a second language was poorer, and they less frequently were employed. Although the age distributions of the two groups were similar, the women who wanted an abortion had more previous pregnancies (more births and more abortions). The women who wanted an abortion, more frequently than the other women reported having been drunk, having had a pelvic inflammation or venereal disease, and having been admitted to a hospital. Half of the women who wanted an abortion reported that they had forgotten to use their contraception and one-fourth were opposed to the use of contraception. There seems not to be a well defined high-risk group for legal abortion but a general need for a more realistic view on contraception. (author's modified)

Ethical aspects of clinical decision-making.

The aim of the present investigation was to describe and to classify significant ethical problems encountered by the members of the staff during the daily clinical work at a hospital medical department. A set of definitions was prepared for the purpose, including the definition of a 'significant ethical problem'. During a three month period 426 inpatients and 173 outpatients were admitted. Significant ethical problems were encountered during the management of 106 in-patients (25 per cent) and 9 out-patients (5 per cent). No significant difference was found between the frequency of ethical problems in female and male patients, but a positive correlation was noted between the number of problems and the patients' age. The problem types were classified according to a problem list. The results of this investigation suggest that greater attention must be paid to discussions about ethical problems among doctors and other categories of health personnel and that, among others, medical students ought to be taught the analysis of ethical problems.