Abaqus provides three different adaptive meshing modules: the ALE adaptive meshing, the adaptive remeshing and the mesh-to-mesh solution mapping.
Input file based remeshing can be acchived via *ADAPTIVE MESH REFINEMENT. Here you can define a critical value of PEEQ (equivalent plastic strain) at which the mesh will be refined. Unfortunately the method is restricted to eulerian elements of type EC3D8R.
Alternatively you can use the automated process of mesh refinement in Abaqus / CAE. This process is described in the Analysis User Guide in section 12.3.