Prevalencia del intento de interrumpir el embarazo y factores asociados en una comunidad urbano marginal de Lima-Perú, 2006

objectives. to estimate the prevalence for the attempts to stop pregnancy among women with history of previous pregnancies, and to determine the factors associated. material and methods. a cross-sectional study was performed during 2006. samples included 1057 women with background of pregnancy, living in pamplona alta, selected by a systematic random sampling. we applied descriptive and inferential statistics, including a logistic regression model. results. the prevalence for the attempt to stop pregnancy was 13.9% (99% ci: 11.1-16.7). the factors associated identified by multivariate analysis were: unwanted pregnancy (or=5.7; ci: 1.9-16.7), lack of pre-natal care (or=4.7; ci: 1.8-12.2), prostitution (or=11.4; ci: 1.5-87.9), age below 20 years (or=2.9; ci: 1.1-7.9), and having more than two partners (or=3.3; ci: 1.1-10.2). conclusions. the estimated prevalence for the attempt to stop pregnancy among women with history of previous pregnancies in a marginal suburban area from lima was low when compared to the national estimated prevalence of abortion. the associated factors identified for the attempts to stop pregnancy are: unwanted pregnancy, prostitution, age below 20 years, having more than two partners and lack of pre-natal care.