Factors Contributing to Unwanted birth in India: Evidence from Longitudinal Study Design

The data is used from the two rounds of Indian Health Development survey and we calculated the unwanted births from the two rounds of the survey.

Factors Contributing to Unwanted birth in India: Evidence from Longitudinal Study Design

The data is used from the two rounds of Indian Health Development survey and we calculated the unwanted births from the two rounds of the survey.

Drivers of unwanted births in Bangladesh (2004 ̶ 2014): A decomposition analysis

Background In Bangladesh, about 30 percent of the total births a woman on average have (2.3 births) are unwanted. Reduction in unwanted births is very important for family wellbeing, and control of rapid population growth. This reduction requires in-depth knowledge about the factors associated with the change in unwanted childbearing. This study examines the contributions of population structure, external factors that is family planning programmes, and their interaction to the change in the proportion of women having unwanted birth during 2004 ̶ 2007, 2007 ̶ 2011 and 2011 ̶ 2014. Methods This study uses the notion of standardization approach for measuring the effects of family planning programmes and non-programme factors on unwanted childbearing. Using Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data, we employ both aggregate and detailed three-fold decomposition technique to decompose the changes in the proportion having unwanted birth into the contributions of the three different factors. In decomposing the changes, we use logistic regression estimates. Results About 10.3 percent women are found to have unwanted birth in 2014. This percentage remains almost unchanged during 2004−2007, but declines significantly during 2007−2011 and 2011−2014. Population structure exerts significant reducing effect on proportion having unwanted birth during all the study periods, while external factors exerts significant negative effect only during 2011−2014. Interaction effect is found non-significant during all the study periods. All the factors found significantly associated with unwanted childbearing in logistic regression analysis do not show significant effect on its changes in detailed decomposition analysis. Structural effects of respondent’s age at marriage and education are found significantly negative during all the study periods. Conclusions In Bangladesh, significant reducing effect of population structure amid non-declining family planning programmes reduces the proportion having unwanted birth, while simultaneous reducing effects of structure and family planning programmes during a period result in a more pronounced decline. Substantial decline in women marrying before age 18 and having no education is likely to play a vital role in resulting a population structure that may have significant reducing effect on the proportion having unwanted birth.

The Damages from Unwanted Birth in the Italian Legal System: Between Law and Social Consciousness

In Europe, the modern legal systems, as a rule, provide for the right of citizens to a free and informed choice in matter of family planning and procreation, and therefore the right of women to resort to abortion in case of medical and social indications, or even in case of the mother’s request to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. However, being abortion not only a legal issue, but also a social and moral one, different legal systems adopt a wide range of normative models, which take into account, among other things, the existing cultural traditions and the influence of Church on society. Many states recognize the mother and other relatives’ right to compensation arising from the birth of an unwanted child. Much more controversial is the recognition of the rights of a child with a congenital pathology to indemnity from unwanted birth as a result of medical error. In the present article it is examined the experience of Italy, a country where family traditionally represents a considerable cultural and symbolic value. The paper reviews the main normative acts governing the performance of abortion. The research investigates the issues concerning the legal regulation of the compensation for damages arising in connection with the birth of an unwanted child. The present study examines the trend, emerging in the judicial practice, towards the recognition of the physically challenged child’s rights to compensation for the damage deriving from the birth as a result of medical errors.

La nascita indesiderata / The unwanted birth

Non disponibile / Not available

The unwanted birth and the family planning service

SummaryIn a survey in Coventry of 1079 post-natal patients, 11% (104) of married women and 46% (32) of single women stated that this birth was unwanted and emotionally distressing. The married women with unwanted births were the same age as other married women, but had substantially larger families. The single women with unwanted births were younger and all had left school at 16 years or below. Ten per cent of married women and 28% of single women with unwanted births had no knowledge of contraception and 28% of married women and 78% of single women with unwanted births had not used any contraceptive methods. Seventy-six per cent of married women and 78% of single women with unwanted births would have liked further professional advice.