This study aimed to identify the knowledge about induced abortion complications and its relation to age. This is a crosssectional study performed in schools of Maceió, state of Alagoas, Brazil, with students 12 to 19 years old. The sample was calculated considering post-abortion curettage data. The Epi Info computer program was used for data analysis. From 2,592 female adolescents studied, 65.64% didn’t know about any complications of induced abortion. The most mentioned complications were death and sterility. Clinical manifestations of abortion were wrongly mentioned by them as complications. Signification was found between the knowledge of the complications sterility, hemorrhage, and age. Death was significant for girls under 15 and sterility for the older ones. The conclusion is that female adolescents don't have a correct knowledge of induced abortion complications, which shows the risk suffered by the ones that induce it. Thus, there is a need to further clarify the issue and for sexual education.
Adolescent; Abortion, Induced; Sexuality
