Family planning among south Asian women in the UK

In 1999, the UK government issued national targets to reduce unintended pregnancies and declared the family planning needs of young women from minority ethnic groups a national priority. South Asian women have higher parity and higher rates of teenage motherhood than White women. Limited data from family planning clinics suggested South Asian women have lower levels of attendance and lower rates of contraceptive use than UK peers and there are to date no published data on abortion. This has led to South Asian women being identified as having ‘unmet family planning needs’. However, low contraceptive use does not necessarily indicate unmet family planning needs. The overall aim of this thesis was to provide information about family planning needs of South Asian women in the context of risk of unintended pregnancy and adverse reproductive outcomes. The work encompasses the role of ethnic identity as a key determinant of sexual behaviour, family planning intentions, contraceptive use and adverse reproductive outcomes and contrasts how family planning needs of South Asian women differ from other ethnic groups of women in the UK