4.3.2 Educational attainment, cognitive performance and medical
abortion
Previous observational studies yielded inconsistent results on the
association between educational attainment and medical abortion[19,
23, 24]. Women with primary and secondary education had higher odds of
terminating their pregnancies compared to women with no education, but
the odds of terminating their pregnancies were not higher among women
with tertiary education[24], suggesting that there may not be a
linear causal relationship between education and termination of
pregnancies[19, 24].
However, education was observed to reduce the risk of medical abortion
in present study in UVMR analysis using the IVW method, complementary
methods and in MVMR analysis. The causal relationship between education
and induced abortion may be influenced by the economic level of the
region, as the frequency of abortion was high among less educated women
in the developed region of Norway, however, the frequency of abortion
was conversely high among university educated women in the less
developed region of Pakistan[25]. We found that EA was still
associated with decreased risk of MA, after moderating for HI.
Educational attainment is a proxy for intelligence, and cognitive
ability is often measured through intelligence as well as educational
attainment. Research published by Woodley Menie MA confirmed that there
was no significant linear or quadratic relationship between the number
of abortions and maternal cognitive ability (as measured by educational
attainment or general intelligence)[26].