Factors associated with planned and unplanned nuptial births.

A study of the incidence of unplanned pregnancy in a cohort of 1038 New Zealand mothers of nuptial children revealed that slightly more than 30% of the births were unplanned and that most of the unplanned births resulted in wanted children as evidenced by the low rate of women who had consulted a doctor about induced abortion. The study established that unplanned pregnancy has a statistically significant relationship to parity and race but an insignificant relationship to the mothers religion educational level and to the familys socio-economic status. The mothers knowledge and appreciation of contraceptive methods was found to be good and to have a statistically insignificant relationship to the planning of pregnancy. Contraceptive failure was the immediate cause of unplanned birth in 39% of all cases with contraceptive non-usage accounting for the remaining cases of unplanned birth. There was a high frequency of pill users among mothers of unplanned children a fact which reflects the popularity of the pill the acceptability of the drug and irregularities in contraceptive practice. Improvements of practices in prescribing the pill are needed but the newer IUDs might provide a method just as efficient as the pill and exclude the risk of error in administration.