Contraceptive use after unplanned pregnancy terminated by induced abortion: An observation from a recent fertility survey in Taiwan

A certain proportion of unplanned pregnancies was terminated by induced abortion and could then result in a variety of physical and psychological sequels. The aim of this study was to estimate the proportion of women who did not use contraceptives after unwanted pregnancy terminated by induced abortion and to identify those who were less likely to use contraceptives to avoid pregnancy after the induced abortion. We used data from the 2008 Women and Fertility Survey in Taiwan and restricted our analysis to those who had experience of unplanned pregnancy terminated by induced abortion. A total of 717 women were included and generalized estimating equation model (GEE) was applied to deal with correlated data arising from multiple experiences of the study subjects. The results showed that 25.9% of women did not use any contraceptive to avoid repeated pregnancy after induced abortion. Women with lower education attainment or poor subjective economic status were less likely to use contraceptives. After controlling for socio-demographic variables, those who reached their desire number of children, had more than one unplanned pregnancy terminated by induced abortion or had better knowledge about induced abortion were more likely to use contraceptives to avoid repeated pregnancy. We conclude that better knowledge about induced abortion is associated with women's utilization of contraceptives to avoid repeated pregnancy after induced abortion. The findings also imply that timely provision of contraceptive services right after induced abortion is crucial to prevent repeated pregnancy, especially on those who were unlikely to use contraceptives after induced abortion.