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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums37% of Births Between 2006 and 2010 Were Unplanned
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/07/37-births-between-2006-and-2010-were-unintended/55037/Over a third of women giving birth in the U.S. are having babies they did not plan to have. Between 2006 and 2010 37.1 percent of women had unintended births in the United States, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics. That's up from 1995 where 30.6 percent were unintended and 2002 where 34.9 were.
The data was gleaned from interviews with 12,279 women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the given time frame and the report only takes into account pregnancies "ending in live birth." Of women who did not use contraception and had an unintended birth a majority 35.9 percent did not think they could get pregnant. Over at Slate, Amanda Marcotte commented:
It seems strange that so many women think they are infertile, but looking at the combination of social silence on the topic of contraception and a pop culture that portrays people having contraception-free sex with relatively few pregnancies makes it easier to understand.
Marcotte also honed in on the "ambivalence" that some women showed 23.1 percent of the women said in they survey that they "didn't mind" if they ended up pregnant.
*** that's the whole article.
ejpoeta
(8,933 posts)I don't quite know what happened. I guess I got sloppy. I was very mad too about it. After I had Abby I told my husband I didn't want ANY MORE KIDS. And I wanted one of us to make sure that it couldn't happen again. then we had an accident and I flipped... Headed to the store at 1 in the morning to find that plan b thing. It was behind glass and unaccessable to me as the pharmacy was closed. So bob went the next day and got it for me. $50 for one pill! How does someone who is living hand to mouth pay for that when we were doing ok and that smarted. Then I made an appointment to get myself fixed that day. Ended up getting Miderma or whatever it's called which is good for 5 years.
ProdigalJunkMail
(12,017 posts)"Intended" births are planned, Mosher said. "Unintended" births are those that are either "mistimed," which means they occur either a short time or years before the mother had planned to become pregnant or "unwanted," which means a mother did not want the pregnancy, whether or not she already had other children.
This terminology would put us into the 'unintended' category because it includes 'mistimed'...I don't know what percentage is 'mistimed' but I am not sure they should be included. I am probably reading into the study, but it would seem that 'unintended' would indicate 'unwanted' and I am not sure that is true in all cases.
sP