Objectives: To explore the attitudes of teenage girls towards contraception and induced abortion in order to better understand underlying reasons for non-protection.
Methods: Four focus group discussions with urban teenage girls aged 15-18 years (n = 16).
Results: Attitudes towards abortion were generally positive despite some degree of misinformation and lack of knowledge about the subject. Knowledge about methods of birth control was accurate. The use of alcohol was often cited as a factor contributing to risk-taking behaviour. Sexual abuse was mentioned as a common phenomenon, and all participants knew someone who had been sexually abused. Participants agreed that sexual partners were reluctant to use condoms and that it was difficult to negotiate with them about this use. The increased rate of abortion was felt to be mainly due to initiation of sexual activity at a younger age. A need for easily available and inexpensive contraception was expressed along with improvement in the quality of sexual education in school.
Conclusion: Qualitative sexual education with single-sex sessions and gender related messages as a recurrent activity in the school curricula may help to empower young women and promote avoidance of risk-taking during sexual activity thus helping to reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancies. In addition, access to cheap condoms could provide a stimulus to increased use of condoms.