Continuity and change in reproductive and abortion patterns of Soviet immigrants in Israel

The abortion and fertility patterns of old-timer and new immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel are compared with those prevalent among the receiving population, where a different system of services, free-choice contraceptive means and outlooks on family size exist. High frequency of abortion in the U.S.S.R. looks adaptive to local circumstances rather than cultural, yet higher-than-average patterns of induced abortion and lower-than-average number of children persist after almost two decades. In the short range, new immigrants seem also to be exposed to very low fertility rates and to significant high rates of legal and illegal abortion than countrywide.