Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Knowledge and attitude of reproductive age group (15 -49) women towards Ethiopian  
current abortion law and associated factors in Bahir Dar city, Ethiopia  
 
Version: 1 Date: 04 Mar 2019  
 
Reviewer: Claudia Díaz -Olavarrieta  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
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This is an important study from a region that is making great strides to make safe and legal 
abortion services available to women. However, I suggest the authors may wish to consider 
the following in order to clarify their results for readers outside their region.  
 
Abstract: In the Results section, they include that 27.37 (they could round up all decimals to 
one figure) of women with a history of pregnancy had a history of abortion, however, they do 
not clarify until Table 2 that only 8 participants had an induced abortion and 39 a 
spontaneous. The readers could benefit from knowing what method was used by women who 
self induced (miso or WHO's gold standard of miso+mife) an abortion at home.  
 
Under Methods and later on in the text, they mention they used a pre -tested structured 
questionnaire, first developed in English but no reference is included to guide the reader as to 
which data collection instrument the y used. The authors mention theirs is a cross -sectional 
community based study with a high response rate (95.7%). To what do they attribute their 
high response rate, did the study team introduce themselves as medical doctors, this 
information is important t o developing countries where households surveys are challenging to 
field as participants become "suspicious" of questions having to do with women's health.  
If the authors have it and can provide it, it would be useful to know the psychometric 
characteristics of the survey that was translated into Amharic, Cronbach alpha, sensitivity, 
specificity so that other developing country settings could profit from thei r instrument.  
It is not very clear how respondents were approached and where did the interview take place. 
Being a household survey, all homes had a private space where women would respond to the 
questionnaire. If these were the conditions in which intervi ews took place I think the paper 
could be strengthened by adding them to clarify reading the text and understanding the study 
methodology.  
What I believe is a study finding that is not properly or thoroughly discussed is the role of the 
partner's education al status and how this increases the likelihood of women having more 
knowledge of abortion legislation in Ethiopia. If this finding is only relevant to the Ethiopian 
context, I believe the authors could explain  bit more in the discussion section as it ent ails a 
potential intervention with men. The 6.15 increased likelihood women will have a favorable 
attitude towards abortion if their partner approves and is aware of such legislation is a finding 
worth describing in more detail.  
In the section under Attit ude Characteristic: it is not very clear the high percentage of women 
58.29  that disagree with abortion decriminalization or legalization, a terminology that is 
could also be clarified along the text. The author's finding of the 20.4% of women who had a 
history of pregnancy and abortion could be clarified to actual figures given that the sample 
size is quite small.  
The study questionnaire includes the term "unmarried" and the tables include the category of 
"single". The reader may benefit from having the a verage monthly income  calculated in 
USD and if income differences were found in regards to knowledge and agreement with 
abortion legislation, it would be interesting to include. Under information on attitude question 
# 410, the wording is unclear "You thi nk pregnancy should be interrupted cutoff health 
institute. In question 411 "will you obey the law?" does it refer to women who are pregnant 
and wish to terminate a pregnancy? Table 3 has a legal clause that the wording is unclear "the 
law permit for uprep ared".  
 
 
 
Are the methods appropriate an d well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Needs some language corrections before being published  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Declaration of competing interests  
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