Challenging unintended pregnancy as an indicator of reproductive autonomy

Challenging unintended pregnancy as an indicator of reproductive autonomy: a response

“…Planning and intentional orientations are only a subset of the range of attitudes and perspectives individuals might have before pregnancy becomes a part of their lives [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Indeed, we agree with Potter et al that pregnancy intentions as a binary constructintended vs. unintendedis a "long-recognized conceptual problem" [1].…”

“…The most commonly used measures of "pregnancy intentions" do not measure intentions or aspirations to plan pregnancies or childbearing; individuals were asked only if they had wanted a baby. 3 The intentions-oriented terminology used for decades to describe these 3 There are two questions used in the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) to ascertain retrospective pregnancy intentions, both in reference to a specific pregnancy. The first is: "Right before you became pregnant (with your (NTH) pregnancy which ended in (DATE)/this time), did you yourself want to have a(nother) baby at any time in the future?"…”

“…Potter and colleagues are right: the retrospective, population-level measure of unintended pregnancytypically presented as a rate among women of reproductive age or as a proportion among all pregnanciesis widely used "as a justification for our research and as a rationale for the subsidy, expansion, or improvement of family planning services" [1]. Indicators of unintended pregnancy have helped prioritize reproductive health as one of the top public health foci for decades; served to secure public funds specifically to support reproductive health care for low-income, marginalized and adolescent women 1 ; and garnered support for improving access to contraceptive and abortion services. At the same time, these measures have been misused, misinterpreted and at times used in ways that stigmatize individuals who experience unintended pregnancy, population groups with relatively higher rates, and even the births and abortions from those pregnancies.…”

Factors Influencing Unintended Pregnancies among Childbearing Age Women in Indonesia

“…This condition is related to the lack or deadlock of communication between women and their partners 14,18,19 . Several previous studies have found the same information, unintended pregnancy is closely related to women's independence in making decisions about their reproductive health 25,26 .…”

Establishing an Evidence Base for Meeting the Reproductive Health Needs of Immigrants

“…Historical arguments have posited that the reduction of unintended pregnancy is an important goal of public health, 4 therefore given the fact that many immigrants seek care at Title X funded clinics, addressing abortion in this population could be achieved by providing comprehensive access to family planning services under Title X. It is unfortunate that efforts by the current administration are seeking to change the rules of Title X, 5 to accommodate conscious claims of employees, to ensure no co-mingling of Title X and abortion funds, despite the fact that no evidence currently exists that this is occurring, and that organizations who provide both abortion and Title X services have separation of these services.…”