[Abortion: 20 years of Brazilian research].

The aim of this paper is to discuss the main characteristics of the scientific literature on abortion in Brazil. Data were collected from 88 literature bases, and 2,109 documents from 1987 to 2008 were retrieved. Based on the findings, the field of abortion in Brazil is dominated by female researchers affiliated with public universities and nongovernmental organizations from the Southeast, with training in health sciences. There is no research on abortion in the North, while 14% of the studies were conducted in the Northeast and 4% in the Central-West. Abortion has been a constant theme in the scientific literature in Brazil, increasing in the mid-20th century.