Objective   To investigate the prevalence and type severity of domestic violence among women asking induced abortion in the northern cities of China.

  Methods   A cross-setional study, a structure questionnaire were conducted from November 2001 to J anuary 2002 in the family planning department of Women and Children's Hospitals in Tianjin, Liaoning, Henan and Shanxi areas.A total of 1 215 women asking induced abortion in the cities were interviewed.

  Results   Of the 1 215 women 274 of them(22.6%)were reported to experience domestic violence from their intimate partners, including 18.1% sexual abuse, 7.8% physical abuse and 3.0% emotional abuse.The prevalence of domestic violence during women's lifetime and current pregnancy were 21.7% and 7.0%.Among abused women, 46(16.8%)of them often experienced violence and almost an equal proportion of women experienced violence occasionally or sometimes(40.5% and 42.7%, respectively).Most of abused women(77.0%)only experienced one type of violence, but 4.4% experienced three types of violence (sexual, physical and emotional violence).The most common type of violence was sexual violence and next was physical violence.

  Conclusion   There was relatively high prevalence of domestic violence among women with induced abortion in the northern cities of China.Therefore, it was necessary to develop an intervention program among women with induced abortion and to enhance health providers' awareness of the problem and their ability to identify domestic violence.