Changes in the Planning Status of Births To Ever-Married U.S. Women, 1982-1988

Analysis of births reported in the Cycles III and IV of the US National Survey of Family Growth in 1982 and 1988 indicate no statistically significant changes in the proportion of births among women noncontracepting and not seeking a pregnancy. Birth distributions are largely changed among women planning births, which show declines, and women with contraceptive failures, which result in increased births. There were significant increases in ever married women's use of contraception (65% in 1982 and 71% in 1988), and fewer women desiring a pregnancy (6% in 1982 and 3% in 1988). Among those at risk of a unintended pregnancy the proportion using more effective methods of contraception increased from 71% to 73%. The failure rates for less effective methods such as the condom, diaphragm, and spermicides are unchanged between 1982 and 1988. The proportion of unintended pregnancies ending in abortion change very little between 1982 and 1988, according to analysis of data for 1982 and 1987 by Forest and Singh. Analysis of NSFG data on abortions for the 5 years preceding the surveys show a decline, but it is not statistically significant. The analysis suggests that there were indeed more unplanned pregnancies that came to term between 1982 and 1987 than between 1977 and 1981. The unplanned pregnancies are accounted for by the increased number of women at risk of contraceptive failure, the increased failure rates for the pill and for abstinence, and an increased proportion of unwanted pregnancies carried to term between 1982 and 1988. The proportion not using contraception would not appear to have affected the changes in unintended births. Why use-effectiveness of contraception has changed is not known.