Knowledge of likely time of ovulation and contraceptive use in unintended pregnancies

This investigation analyzed social and demographic characteristics of women having an unwanted or mistimed pregnancy (unintended pregnancies at the cu rrent time) in South America. A sample of 5135 women having had a normal non-malformed live-born infant w ere interviewed immediately postpartum at 18 hospitals participating in the Latin American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations (Spanish ac ronym: ECLAMC). Half (2568/5135 = 50%) reported that their pregnancies had been unintended, and, of those, 59.3% (1522/2568 = 59.3%) declared that the y were trying to avoid conception. The latter group (n = 1522) was the main sample for this study. Patients were asked about their knowledge of when during the menstrual cycl e conception is most likely to occur, their biomedical and social character istics, the type of contraceptive methods used, their opinion of reasons fo r contraceptive failure, and their reasons for not using contraceptive meth ods. Women with unintended pregnancies who had not attempted to avoid conception were younger, often primigravid, less educated, and less knowledgeable con cerning when during the cycle pregnancy is most likely to occur. Thus, repr oductive health policies should be aimed at this target group.