Do teenager prefer contraception or termination?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Teenage pregnancy is universal in all known societies past and present. One in four girls in the world becomes a mother before the age of 19 years. In Sri Lanka, 22.2% of maternal deaths due to illegal abortions were in this age group during 1996. Lack of knowledge regarding contraceptive methods is thought to be the main reason for not practicing proper contraception. On the other hand information about domestic violence in families with teenage mother is scares. OBJECTIVES: To describe the use of contraception, attempted pregnancy terminations and violence against women during the pregnancy among teenage mothers delivered at Teaching Hospital Peradeniya. METHOD: A prospective descriptive study was done on teenage mothers who delivered at teaching hospital Peradeniya from 1st of April 2005 to 31st of March, 2006, using interviewer administered questionnaire. RESULTS: There were 190 teenage mothers delivered during the study period. Data was collected from 186 of them. Among these teenage mothers Only 3(1.6%) has studied above GCE ordinary level. Only 28% ofwomen of the group have used any form of contraception, and of which 64% has used barrier methods of contraception. 80 (43%) of teenage mothers had thought of future contraception before they were discharged from the hospital. Termination of the pregnancy has been attempted by 9.1% of the study population. Of those who had'attempted termination 82.4% had not used any form of contraception. Male partners have assaulted 16.1% of teenage mothers during the pregnancy. CONCLUSION: The teenage pregnant mothers have poor educational background. The contraceptive use in the population was very low leading to unnecessary pregnancies and termination of pregnancies. Domestic violence in this population is fairly common.