Premium
Denial of women's rights to contraception in southeastern Nigeria
Author(s) -
Chigbu Chibuike O.,
Onyebuchi Azubuike K.,
Onwudiwe Elijah N.,
Iwuji Stella E.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2012.12.010
Subject(s) - medicine , denial , spouse , family medicine , family planning , abortion , emergency contraception , pregnancy , population , demography , gynecology , environmental health , law , research methodology , psychology , sociology , biology , political science , psychoanalysis , genetics
Objective To evaluate the opinions and experiences of married women in southeastern Nigeria regarding their rights to contraception, in addition to the impact of the denial of women's contraceptive rights on unplanned pregnancy rate. Methods A cross‐sectional survey of women who registered for prenatal care at 2 federal tertiary healthcare facilities in southeastern Nigeria was conducted. Randomly selected samples of participants were interviewed via a structured, pretested questionnaire. Results In total, 1204 women participated in the survey. Overall, 526 (43.7%) were unaware of their rights to contraception. Denial of contraceptive rights was reported by 522 (43.4%) women. In total, 174/317 (54.9%) women with unplanned pregnancies blamed denial of access to contraception for their pregnancies. Among the women who had used contraception previously, 61.9% reported that the decision to do so was taken by their spouse. Formal education seemed to increase women's level of awareness of their rights to contraception ( P = 0.001) but it did not influence the exercising of such rights. Conclusion A considerable proportion of women in southeastern Nigeria are being denied their rights to contraception, mainly owing to a culture of male dominance. There may be significant health implications for women with unplanned pregnancies arising from such denials.