ABSTRACT
This chapter explores new Soviet immigrants are those who arrived since the 1 January 1990, a definition adopted by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. It examines changes in induced abortion practice among Soviet immigrants in Israel and its overall interrelation with fertility. 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. Dramatic as the change has been, the old-timer immigrants have not reached the lower abortion rates prevailing among their Israeli peers as a whole. The integration of hundreds of thousands of new immigrants who arrived within a couple of years is a multifaceted venture that could hardly be coped with by any society. Soviet immigrants who arrived in Israel were exposed to different environment regarding induced abortion, fertility control and preferences and achievements in family size.
