Abstract:
Background: Unintended pregnancy contributes to unacceptably high maternal mortality rates throughout the
world and can have far-reaching health, social and economic consequences. In Ethiopia, around one third of all married
women feel their pregnancy unintended. Objective: To identify prevalence of unintended pregnancies and associated factors
among married pregnant women in Ganji woreda west Wollega zone in year 2013. Method: A community based crosssectional study design was employed both quantitative and qualitative method. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS
software version 20. Frequencies, binary and logistic regression were used to describe and analyze study variables.
Qualitative data collected by in-depth interview method. Analyzed thematically and triangulated with the quantitative
findings. Result: Out of 623 subjects, 616 responded. The response rate was 98.8%. 225(36.5%) reported unintended
pregnancy. Mothers whose husbands disagree to limit family size were 2.26 times more likely to experience unintended
pregnancy (OR 2.26: 95% CI, 1.23-4.14). Ever physically violated mothers by their intimate partner were 1.78 times more
likely to experience unintended pregnancy compared to no violate (OR 1.78: 95% CI, 1.18-2.70). Low level knowledgeable
was 3.76 times more likely to experiencing unintended pregnancy than higher level knowledgeable (OR 3.76: 95% CI,
2.37-5.96). Conclusion: According to this study age of respondents, age at marriage, total birth, ideal number of children,
ever-physical violence, husband’s disagreement to limit family size, family planning health worker visit and knowledge
level of respondents were significantly contributing to unintended pregnancy.
