Contraceptive Usage. Contraceptives are important to the conversation on abortion, as they are often viewed as a protective device from the opportunity of pregnancy. From what was revealed through my conversations about contraceptive usage with interviewees, most participants agreed that contraceptives are used within the Nepali population. Xxxxxxxx believes that “A lot of women do use contraceptives. It is quite commonly used,” and Xxxxxx shared how “Ausdeisadhan haru ta ekdame use huncha [Contraceptives are used a lot],” and how nowadays, there are up to six varieties of contraceptive pills methods available. In his interview, Xxx supported their statements and suggested that the widespread use is linked to how people in urban areas are more career-focused and likely to use birth control to delay having a child until the couple is ready. He compares this to how people in the Terai and rural areas won’t hesitate as much to have a child, especially if the husband leaves to pursue work abroad. To an extent, Xxxxx also agreed that contraceptive methods have become common and normalized in Nepal, but more specifically in reference to IPills (emergency contraceptive pills). He said, “Manche harulai makai bhatmaas jasto khayo [people eat it like corns and beans!]”, a saying meant to describe a common Nepali snack. He mentioned that many unmarried people and young students dressed in uniform frequently seek contraceptives —an occurrence that Xxxxx feels the government is quite bothered with as well. Xxxxx believes that consuming emergency contraceptives with this degree of effortlessness will surely increase infertility and cause women to experience unnatural symptoms. This view was not held by all. Xxxxxxxxx, on the other hand, disagreed with the notion that contraceptive use is common and introduces the idea that “The reason why contraceptive use isn’t common is because the contraceptive prevalence rate is quite low, very low, and the unmet need is quite high. More than 50% of pregnancies are unintended pregnancies. Abortion ko unmet need cha Nepal ma [There is an unmet need for abortion in Nepal]”. Xxxxxxxxx argued that there is an unmet need for both contraceptives and for abortions, indicating his opinion that current progress on these fronts has proven insufficient. Figure 7 below illustrates the percentage of unintended pregnancies in Nepal by region, according to data collected in 2014.
