**Factors Affecting the Attitudes of Women toward Family Planning Family Planning**

**Factors Affecting the Attitudes of Women toward** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.73255

Nazli Sensoy, Yasemin Korkut, Selcuk Akturan, Mehmet Yilmaz, Canan Tuz and Bilge Tuncel Mehmet Yilmaz, Canan Tuz and Bilge Tuncel Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Nazli Sensoy, Yasemin Korkut, Selcuk Akturan,

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73255

#### **Abstract**

[38] Tentler L. Catholics and Contraception: An American History. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Uni-

[42] Irvine S. Population growth in the United States. United Presbyterian. 1955;113(12):8

[44] Herbster B. The state of the church. United Church Herald. 1965;8(14):7-9, 30

[46] Guttmacher A. Church, state, and babies. The Register-Leader. 1965;147(7):3-4

[45] Bailey J. Crisis demands leadership. United Church Herald. 1965;8(18):24

[48] Montagu A. Too many people. The Register-Leader. 1965;147(5):20

[51] Coping with illiteracy. The Living Church. 1965;150(14):11

[55] Simple justice. The Living Church. 1965;150(10):7

[56] The population problem. Friends Journal. 1965;11(6):141

[57] Costales V. Letter from Pakistan. Friends Journal 1965;11(5):107-108

[59] The Hitler demonstration. The United Presbyterian. 1935;93(14):4

[49] Private rights and rising birth rates. Presbyterian Life. 1965;18(14):29-31

[53] Birth control statute to go to high court. Presbyterian Life. 1965;18(2):25-26

[43] United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Minutes of the General Assembly: Part I Journal. Philadelphia, PA: Office of the General Assembly; 1959. p. 385

[47] Beacon Press Book Ad. The silent explosion. The Unitarian Universalist Register-Leader.

[50] American Jewish Committee. News. 1964. Available from http://ajcarchives.org/main.

[52] Encourage medical missions to promote family planning. Christian Advocate. 1965;9

[54] Lockhart A. Part one: family, the constitution, and federalism: Griswold v. Connecticut: A Case Brief, 14 J. Contemp. Legal Issues 35 [Internet]. [cited 2017 Oct 27]. Available from:

[58] Better ministry needed in parenthood population field. Christian Advocate. 1965;9(8):23

[60] Strome J. Young people's prayer meeting helps: The myth of race superiority. The Pres-

[61] Cheyney W. Philadelphia fellowship commission center. The Friend. 1945;118(19):295-296

[39] Leitch A. Take it from here…. United Presbyterian. 1955;113(45):2

[41] Van Cleave B. Letters to the editor. The Advance. 1955;147(9):26

[40] Wilder E. Planned parenthood in India. The Advance. 1955;147(7):11-12

versity Press; 2004. 335 p

32 Family Planning

1965;147(2):12

php

(13):22

https://advance.lexis.com

byterian. 1945;115(4):13

Everyone has the right to decide on the number and timing of children without discrimination, violence and oppression, to have the necessary information and facilities for it, to access sexual and reproductive health services at the highest standard. Deficient or incorrect family planning methods, wrong attitudes and behaviors toward the methods and consequent unplanned pregnancies, increased maternal and infant mortality rates are the main health problems in most countries. Individuals' learning modern family planning methods and having positive attitude for these methods may increase the usage of these methods and contributes the formation of healthy communities. It is considered important to examine the current attitudes and determinants in order to spread the choice of effective method.

**Keywords:** women, attitudes, family planning, reproductive health

#### **1. Introduction**

Everyone has the right to decide on the number and timing of children without discrimination, violence and oppression, to have the necessary information and facilities for it, to access sexual and reproductive health services at the highest standard [1]. Deficient or incorrect family planning methods, wrong attitudes and behaviors toward the methods and consequent unplanned pregnancies, increased maternal and infant mortality rates are the main health problems in most countries.

Individuals' learning modern family planning methods and having positive attitude for these methods may increase the usage of these methods and contributes the formation of healthy communities [2]. More than 22 million unsafe abortions that occur every year cause about

Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons

47,000 maternal deaths in the short or long term, mostly in developing countries [3]. It is estimated that up to one-third of maternal deaths can be prevented by using contraception in women who are seeking to postpone or delay postpartum [4].

Across the world, it is estimated that 222 million women have unmet need for family planning [5]. This unmet need prevalent in particular populations, especially those who are sexually active, those with low socioeconomic status, those living in rural communities and those coping with conflicts and disasters [6].

Increasing usage of contraceptives in some developing countries has reduced the annual number of maternal deaths by 40% in the last 20 years and has reduced the maternal mortality rate (the number of maternal deaths in 100,000 live births) by 26% in recent years. If the need for uncontrolled birth is met, it is estimated that maternal mortality still occurring in these countries can be avoided by more than 30% [7]. The 'Family Planning 2020' initiative was started at the London Family Planning Summit in July 2012. The main objective of this initiative is to provide contraceptive information, services and supplies for 120 million women and girls until 2020 [8].

cultural factors determining fertility and factors affecting choice and use with birth control

• To raise the level of maternal and child health by teaching modern and medical ways of protecting the parents

Factors Affecting the Attitudes of Women toward Family Planning

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73255

35

• Providing medical assistance to those who want to have children and educating individuals about family plan-

Unmet need for family planning is a concept that has come to the agenda in recent years. Unmet need for family planning refers to women who have the ability to give birth before they have another child (want to increase the interval of births) or who do not want to have any other children (want to terminate their fertility) but do not use any contraceptive methods. In developing countries, there is a significant gap between women's reproductive preferences and the use of contraception. This inconsistency is called an 'unmet need' for family planning [13]. At least 1 in 10 married or in-union women in most regions of the world has an unmet need for family planning. Worldwide, approximately 12% of married or in-union women are estimated to have an unmet need for family planning; that is, they wanted to stop or delay

In general, unmet need is high where contraceptive prevalence is low. The lowest level of contraceptive prevalence in Asia were in Afghanistan and Timor-Leste at 29%. In 59 countries, at least 1 in 5 women on average had an unmet need for family planning in 2015, and 34 of these 59 countries are in Eastern Africa, Middle Africa or Western Africa [14]. In Turkey, the unmet

Unmet need for contraception and unwanted pregnancy is a major public health problem in most countries. However, the relationship between unmet need for contraception and unwanted pregnancy has not been studied adequately. Bishwajit et al. investigated that the prevalence of unmet need was 13.5%, and about 30% of these women expressed their

An important way to remove unmet needs for family planning is to increase the diversity of contraceptive methods. Individual choosing the contraceptive methods may change depending on their individual needs and family character differences [17]. Also, women refusing to

instrument are evaluated together in the regulation of fertility [12].

childbearing but were not using any method of contraception.

unwanted birth of their last pregnancy in Bangladesh [16].

**3. Unmet need for family planning**

• To educate individuals and families about reproductive health

• Preventing maternal deaths and protecting their health

• To ensure that babies are born and live well • To prevent high-risk and unwanted pregnancies

**Table 1.** The purposes of family planning.

• Many and frequent births have negative effects on mother and child health

from pregnancy

ning methods.

family planning requirement is 6% [15].
