Requests for abortion in Latin America related to concern about Zika virus exposure

This article examines data on requests for abortion pills through Women on Web between 1 January 2010 and 2 March 2016 in 19 Latin American countries to assess whether requests for abortion increased after an alert by the Pan American Health Organization on 17 November 2015 was also announced at country level, as compared with pre-announcement trends. In the 7 Latin American countries that issued warnings to pregnant women about complications associated with Zika virus infection (Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Honduras, Jamaica and Venezuela) requests for abortion through Women on Web increased significantly. In 11 other countries in the region, no significant increase was seen.New England Journal of Medicine by Abigail RA Aiken et al. 2016;375:396-398 28 July 2016DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc1605389