FAMILY-PLANNING PRACTICES AND ATTITUDES AMONG FORMER SOVIET NEW IMMIGRANT WOMEN IN ISRAEL

One hundred young new immigrant women from the former U.S.S.R. now liv ing in Israel answered a detailed semi-open questionnaire regarding th eir knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in fertility and birth control issues. A collective family planning profile of these women is largely in line with that of the urban population of Slavonic U.S.S.R., combi ning early marriage, early and low fertility, the latter achieved by b oth abortion and contraception. Most respondents and their partners tr ied to prevent unwanted pregnancies, usually starting from traditional methods and switching over time to modern ones. An IUD remained most popular contraceptive among parous women, while use of the pill, very rare in the U.S.S.R., has almost doubled upon migration, mostly among younger women. Still, they kept some misleading ideas on the pros and cons of traditional versus modern methods, suggesting lack of adequate information also upon migration. Like their ex-compatriots, our women preferred to solve their birth control problems without external prof essional involvement. Contrary to the expected, free abortion ideology was not universally advocated by our respondents, and most were fully aware of abortion limitations in Israel. While rationally condemning abortion in both moral and health terms, most respondents still use it , this gap between beliefs and practice being indicative of their read iness to adopt efficient contraception. This switch occurs faster in w omen actively involved with host society via work or studies. Younger women were found to be more flexible and advanced in their family plan ning practices than were older ones, while almost no differences were related to education and origin within the U.S.S.R. This exploratory s tudy suggests that any investment into promotion of healthy fertility control practices among new immigrants will be cost-effective in the n ear future.