Although the campaign against HIV has been intensive, it has been focused mainly on the public health implications. Little or no attention is specifically directed at encouraging the public to know their HIV serostatus. The actual public health burden due to this infection is therefore not known. Accurate data on the health burden is critical for national planning on preventive and other interventional measures. Using a semi-structured self-administered questionnaire, we interviewed 1051 women seeking induced abortion in four randomly selected private clinics in Benin City between January and September 2002. The blood samples of those who accepted HIV testing were collected and screened at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. The women were aged between 16 and 46 years (mean 31.1+/-6.7 years). One hundred and thirty seven women (13%) accepted HIV testing. Of the 1051 women, 1001 (95.2%) had multiple sexual partners and 722 (68.8%) regularly practiced unprotected sex. All were aware of HIV/AIDS. The older women were more likely to accept voluntary HIV testing than the younger ones. Acceptance rate for voluntary HIV testing was low in both the employed and unemployed and much lower among full time housewives (p = 0.01). We therefore recommend that HIV campaign programmes should include strategies aimed at arousing public interest in voluntary HIV testing.