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According to a new study, distressing life events and poverty is what causes many abortions in U.S.

According to researchers from the Guttmacher Institute in New York, the disruptive events could include job loss, separation, falling behind on rental/mortgage payments, death of a close friend, a serious health problem, a partner being sent to prison and becoming a victim of crime, Medical Xpress reported.

The findings are based on the analysis of feedback data from almost 9,500 women who had an abortion in 2008 (Abortion Patient Survey). They also considered  11 "disruptive" events, and the links between these, poverty, and contraceptive use.

Also, for the study, the researchers interviewed 49 women seeking abortions.

The findings revealed that about 57% women living in poverty who had an abortion, had a history of facing a major life stressor in the preceding year.

Other findings of the study were as follows:

• One in 5 women had lost their jobs
• One in 6 of the participants had separated from their partner
• One in 7 women had fallen behind on their rental or mortgage payments and,
• One in 8 of them had moved several times.
• One in 10 had experienced the death of a close friend or had had a baby over the past year.
• Also, 7 percent % of the women reported to have been subjected to some sort of domestic violence.

The women reportedly said, that one disruptive event could act as a chain reaction and keep a woman from falling out of another oen.

For example, one woman's grief following the death of her mother kept her from leaving an abusive partner, Medical Xpress reported.

The study revealed more number of women living in poverty (63 percent) had undergone at least one such event in the previous year, when compared to those coming from an affluent background (49 percent).

Other revelations included that a higher number of those who were living in poverty had also separated from a partner or had debts with rental/mortgage payments.

Half of the women were reportedly using contraception in the month they became pregnant, but it seems, almost half of the women revealed that the disruptive events in life interfered with contraceptive use.

The findings were published in the British Medical Journal.