Comparative Study of Therapeutic Abortion Permissions in Central Clinical Department of Tehran Legal Medicine Organization before and after Approval of Law on Abortion in Iran

Objective: Before approval of therapeutic abortion law in parliament in 2003 there was severe restriction for abortion permissions In Iran. At that time "The Guidelines for Therapeutic Abortion" containing indications for abortion was presented by Legal Medicine Organization of Iran (LMO). Parliament and Islamic Consultative Assembly approved this in 2005.
Methods: This study includes all cases referred to the clinical examination department of LMO in central region of Tehran to get permission for therapeutic abortion during one year before approval of therapeutic abortion law (first study from June 1999 to the end of May 2000) and after that (second study from early October 2006 to the end of September 2007). Information was collected via completion of pre-designated forms, the data of the two groups analyzed with SPSS software and compared.
Findings: In the first study only 126 permissions were issued; 17% fetal disorders (major Thalassemia was the only considered case at that time) and 83% maternal indications were the reason to issue permission for abortion. In the second study in 85.36% of cases fetal disorders and in 14.63% maternal diseases were indications for abortion; the major fetal and maternal indications were: anencephaly and cardiovascular problems.
Conclusion: This study shows that in spite of all efforts made so far to legalize therapeutic abortion, we have to keep working on the issue and perhaps some other diseases should be added to the list of indications in future.

Keywords
Therapeutic abortion; Fetal anomalies; Maternal disease; Abortion law; Illegal abortion