Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Bernard Cerutti, PhD, Mario Lazzaro, MD MPH, and Ignazio Cassis, MD MPH. Department of Public Health and Social Welfare, Via Dogana 16, Bellinzona, 6501, Switzerland, +41 91 814 40 09, bernard.cerutti@ti.ch

BACKGROUND: Myfepristone was introduced in Switzerland in 2000. It is not used in Italy. The cryopreservation of embryos was forbidden in Italy in 2004, and all the embryos created must now be transferred into the woman's womb. These restrictions are not found in the Swiss regulations. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the trends in abortion and fertility treatment in Ticino (Swiss canton bordering Italy), especially for the patients resident in Italy. METHODS: Official statistics (2000 to 2004) were analyzed. Country of residence has been available for the pregnancy interruption data since 2003, and should be soon available for fertility treatments. RESULTS: While the number of abortions has remained stable (p-value regression parameter 0.19) , the percentage of patients resident in Italy has raised from 9.7% to 17.8% in three years (p-value chi-square 0.01). A majority of them chooses Myfepristone (88% versus 45% for the others, p-value chi-square < 0.001). A 53% increase was observed in patients who underwent a fertility treatment in 2004 in Ticino, versus 31% for the national data (p-value chi-square 0.01). CONCLUSION: The number of Italian women who come in Switzerland for abortion has been increasing. Also, the significant increase in fertility treatments suggests that the same trend may be observed in this area. While being virtually without any consequences for the wealthy classes that can afford a foreign health care system, the Italian restrictive regulations may widen the disparities in access to family planning and reproductive health care in Italy. Furthermore, the increasing phenomenon rises some ethical issues.

Learning Objectives:

• After attending the presentation or reading the poster, the participant will be able to describe and differentiate the Italian and Swiss regulations regarding abortion and reproductive health, and quantify the parallel change in regulations and the stream of patients from Italy to Switzerland.

Keywords: Reproductive Health, Abortion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

Handout (.pdf format, 271.7 kb)