Journal of Pharmacy and Alternative Medicine www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-4807 (online) ISSN 2222-5668 (Paper) An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.7, 2015 44 Prevalence of Induced Abortion and Associated Factors among Wachamo University Regular Female Students, Southern Ethiopia. Shimelis Mitiku 1 , Prof Meaza Demissie 2 , Fanuel Belayneh 3* , Mengistu Meskele 4 1. Healing hands of joy, Hawassa. Ethiopia 2. Addis continental school of public health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 3 & 4. School of public health, Wolaita Sodo University PO Box: 138, Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia Abstract Background: All over the world, women experience unwanted pregnancy and some of them seek to terminate the pregnancy and undergo induced abortion. In Ethiopia, abortion is still common and it is one of the contributing factors for maternal death. In 2008 it was estimated that, there were 382,000 induced abortions in Ethiopia and 52,600 women were treated for complications of abortion. Most of these women who tend to experience induced abortion are adolescents and youth with age below 25 years. The aim of this study was, to assess the magnitude of induced abortion and associated factors among Wachamo University regular female students. Methods: A cross sectional study design was used. Data were collected from 461 randomly selected female students of Wachamo University by using pre-tested structured questionnaire from January to March, 2015. The collected data were entered using EPI info Version 3.5.1 and analyzed by SPSS version 16. Descriptive statistics was computed and odds ratio along with the 95% confidence interval was estimated to identify factors associated with induced abortion using multivariate logistic regression. Level of statistical significance was declared at P- value less or equal to 0.05. Results: In this study the prevalence of induced abortion was 5.9% (95% CI 3.8-8.0%), from which 9(33.3%) were conducted in an unsafe conditions. A total of 180(39 %) female students had sex and 58 (12.58%) of them get pregnant. Out of the total pregnancies, 53(91.4%) were unwanted. Based on the results from multivariate logistic regression, living out of campus [AOR= 6.78, 95% CI: (1.44, 31.97)], Substance use [AOR= 4.75, 95% CI: (1.12, 20.16)], and earning enough pocket money [AOR= 6.91, 95% CI: (1.62, 29.50)] were significantly associated factors with induced abortion. Conclusion and Recommendation: A significant proportion of pregnancies among students in higher educational institution are terminated with induced abortion. Living out of campus, substance use and pocket money have significant association with induced abortion. The university and local health bodies should work together to address for prevention of unintended pregnancy and induced abortion. Key words: Induced abortion, Abortion, Adolescent and youth Introduction Abortion is the termination of pregnancy by the expulsion of a fetus or embryo from the uterus. It can occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be induced. The term abortion most commonly refers to the induced abortion of a human pregnancy, whereas, spontaneous abortions are usually termed miscarriages. By convention, induced abortion is usually defined as pregnancy termination prior to 20 weeks for developed countries and 28weeks for developing countries (Leveno et al. 2007). Abortion can also be classified as safe or unsafe. World Health Organization (WHO) defines unsafe abortion as a procedure for terminating unwanted pregnancy either by people lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking minimal medical standards or both (Organization WH 2012). Worldwide approximately one in five pregnancies end in an induced abortion. There were an estimated 43.8 million induced abortions in 2008 from this close to 38 million induced abortions were in developing countries and it continues to occur in measurable numbers in all regions of the world, regardless of the status of abortion law (Organization WH. 2012 & Sedgh etal. 2008 ). Among the direct cause of maternal death in the world, unsafe abortion accounts for 13% of overall maternal deaths and as much as 25% in some countries and developing world (Gemzell et al. 20014). More than 40% of