Unintended Pregnancy among Married Antenatal Clinic Attendees in a Tertiary Institution in Nigeria

Aims: Unwanted and mistimed pregnancies commonly represent different life-choice considerations that affect married women of different ages. This study sought to explore the reasons for unintended pregnancies among married pregnant women in the antenatal clinic of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Rivers State, Nigeria, as well as the actions taken by these women.

Study Design: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: It was carried out in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital in January 2014.

Methodology: A 2-staged sampling method was used to recruit 385 pregnant women. A pretested semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaire was administered to all married pregnant women who attended the antenatal clinic on the different days of the week and consented to be part of the study. Data was entered into an excel sheet and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0.

Results: Respondents were aged between 18 and 44years. Of the 385 respondents, 94 (24.4%) said the index pregnancy was unintended out of whom 89 (94.6%) was mistimed while 5 (5.4%) were unwanted. Several reasons were given for having an unintended pregnancy with child spacing being the most common. Of the 94 respondents with unintended pregnancies, 22 (23.4%) sought to terminate the pregnancy (P<0.05) while 27 (28.7%) came for antenatal care later than they did in their last pregnancy. Sixty-seven (71.3%) either came for antenatal care in the index pregnancy at the same time they did for the previous pregnancy, or were seeking antenatal care for the first time with attempted termination (9.6%) and embarrassment about being pregnant again (5.3%) topping the list of reasons for their behavior. Thirty-two (34.0%) of the 94 respondents whose index pregnancy was unintended used one or more family planning method (P<0.05).

Conclusion: This study showed that many women attending the antenatal clinic at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital have unintended pregnancies with low contraceptive usage.