Oral

Unintended pregnancies occur all the time and avoiding it is a personal goal for most couples. The session will look into varying trends and factors that contribute to unplanned pregnancies in the US and in Ghana. In the US over half of unplanned pregnancies are in young women in their twenties. Little research has focused on young adult Latinas and their partners, who experience higher than average rates of unplanned pregnancy. Results from a qualitative study explored factors associated with pregnancy with low-income and US-born Latina women pregnant with their first child. The next speaker will discuss, using birth data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) and data on the incidence of abortion from nationwide surveys, percentages and rates of unintended pregnancies for each state and for key demographic subgroups. The session will then look at results from study that investigates concepts of intendedness of pregnancy and their social context, and the relevance these may have for women’s choices to keep a baby, terminate a pregnancy or adopt out a baby. The last panelist discusses the relationship between the barriers to fertility regulation and fertility preference in Ghana.

Session Objectives: • Discuss strategies for reducing the rate of unintended pregnancy among young adult Latinas and their partners • Assess the percentage of all pregnancies that are unintended and the unintended pregnancy rate for each U.S. state • Describe the limited predictive value of the standard measure of pregnancy intendedness for women’s choices about the pregnancy • Identify the major barriers to fertility regulation for women in Ghana

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)