One in six pregnancies are unplanned

One in six pregnancies among women in Britain are unplanned, and one in 60 women (1.5%) experience an unplanned pregnancy in a year, according to new results from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal), published in The Lancet . The findings come from the first study to provide population prevalence estimates of unplanned pregnancy in Britain since 1989, and the first ever using a validated multi-component measure (the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy). Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UCL and the NatCen Social Research analysed data from 5,686 women of child-bearing age between 2010 and 2012, drawn from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) survey data. One in six (16.2%) pregnancies experienced in the past year score as unplanned, 29% as ambivalent (29%), and just over half (55%) as planned. Whilst pregnancies resulting in births were far more likely to be planned than those ending in abortion, the finding that four in 10 pregnancies ending in abortion were planned or ambivalent cautions against equating abortion and unplanned pregnancy. According to lead author Professor Kaye Wellings, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, "Our estimate of the rate of unplanned pregnancies in Britain is lower than estimates in some other high income countries. This may be explained by differences in measurement, but it may also in part be due to contraception being available free of charge from the NHS." Pregnancies in young, single women are most likely to be unplanned.