Child Abuse & Neglect, 2009, 33(12):: 870-876

This article presents results from a study examining the associations between sexual abuse in childhood and the number of abortions in adolescence and early adulthood. The study used data from a 25-year prospective longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1,265 New Zealand children (630 females). The data included assessments of experience of sexual abuse in childhood using retrospective data gathered at ages 18 and 21, self-reported abortions from ages 15 to 25, measures of childhood socio-economic disadvantage, family stability, family functioning, experience of childhood physical abuse, and pregnancy in adolescence and early adulthood. The study found that the severity of the sexual abuse in childhood experience was significantly associated with an increasing rate of abortions during ages 15-25. Adjusting for potentially confounding factors from childhood reduced the size of the association, but it remained marginally statistically significant. However, controlling for the mediating effects of pregnancy risk in adolescence and early adulthood reduced the association between experience of sexual abuse in childhood and abortion to statistical non-significance. The study suggests that the association between experience of sexual abuse in childhood and increased rates of abortion was mediated by the increased rates of pregnancy associated with experiences of sexual abuse in childhood. The results indicate a causal connection in which experience of sexual abuse in childhood leads to increased rates of pregnancy, which in turn leads to increased rates of abortion.