Factors Associated With the Absence of Contraception at Women Seeking a Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy

In 1967, the Neuwirth law allowed women to control their fertility by establishing the right to contraception as a principle. Since then, they have continued to take ownership of the various contraceptive methods, which are regularly renewed.

Contraceptive coverage is important in France as it is estimated that 92% of women of childbearing age use a contraceptive method. The pill remains the most widely used method of contraception (36.5%), ahead of the intrauterine device (25.6%) condoms (15.5%) Several laws have been introduced from 1967 to today to facilitate access to sexual health care: screening for sexually transmitted infections, free provision of emergency contraception to minors, non-prescription delivery of emergency contraception, free consultation at a family planning and education center, voluntary termination of pregnancy 100%, reimbursement of condoms by social security.

Despite all the measures put in place, it is now clear that the number of unplanted pregnancies is decreasing slightly and the number of abortion has remained stable since 2001.

According to the latest literature data, several socio-demographic factors appear to play a role in the rate of use of voluntary termination of pregnancy., including age, socio-cultural level, marital and economic status and ethnic origin. All the more striking, it appears that while voluntary termination of pregnancy are mainly related to contraceptive failures, one third of them involve women who do not have contraception. According to the latest Ined survey, and in accordance with other data from the literature, the factors associated with the absence of contraceptive use are multiple: ignorance about fertility, family or cultural context, cost of contraceptive methods or lack of information related to them.

While these studies have looked at the reasons given by women for the lack of contraception, with little data on the characteristics of these women, particularly socio-demographics and their reproductive history and in particular in the context of unwanted pregnancy. This finding leads us to question the factors associated with the absence of contraception among women in demand of a voluntary termination of pregnancy.