Nonuse of contraception among women at risk of unintended pregnancy in the United States

Abstract

These results may help better understand factors affecting nonuse of contraception and develop strategies for preventing unintended pregnancy in the United States.

New Partners, More Kids

“…First, fertility is largely assumed to be planned; that is, individuals decide to have children because they see some sort of benefit or value and then choose to have children when they are best able to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs. In the United States, however, over a third of all births are unintended (Mosher, Jones, and Abma 2012), occurring either too soon (“mistimed”) or to individuals who do not want any births at all (“unwanted”). High proportions of unintended childbearing suggest that many people are not consciously deciding to signal relationship commitment, present themselves as adults, or follow a normative path.…”

“…The majority of teenage childbearing is unintended and nonmarital, and repeat teen births are common (Mosher, Jones, and Abma 2012). Nonmarital and unintended childbearing, of course, are not solely the domain of teenagers.…”

“…The proportion of births occurring outside of marriage has steadily increased, reaching 41 percent in 2010, about half of which occur in cohabiting unions (Manlove et al 2010). A third of all births are unintended, with births to unmarried women particularly likely to be unintended (Mosher, Jones, and Abma 2012). The majority of unintended births arise from using less effective forms of contraception, using contraception inconsistently, or nonuse of contraception (Gold et al 2009), and these births are concentrated among younger and less advantaged men and women (Finer and Zolna 2011).…”

Reproductive Life Planning and Preconception Care 2015: Attitudes of English-Speaking Family Planning Patients

“…34 A significant percentage of pregnancies that are classified as ''intended'' are not planned, but result from ambivalence, fatalism, and preprogrammed acceptance. 36,48 Internal conflicts and ambivalence in a woman's pregnancy intention can profoundly impact her successful use of contraception and are important to detect. 38,45,49 In prospective studies, women who expressed such feelings were less likely to use contraception correctly and consistently than those with a strong antipregnancy feeling.…”

Prevention of Unintended Pregnancy Among Sexually Active Adolescents in the United States

“…58 Mosher et al reported that 14.4% of women under the age of 20 years said they had unprotected sex because their male partner did not want birth control to be used. 59 Among Latina teens followed longitudinally, pregnancy was 3.3 times more likely if they had low power in a sexual relationship with a main partner than those without a main partner. 60 Similar findings were reported by teen women whose partners were in gangs 61 and those exposed to violence in any form.…”