Unintended Pregnancies within Marriage Sample Clauses

Unintended Pregnancies within Marriage. Within marriage, three aspects of unintended pregnancy were discussed: when a couple wanted to delay conception, stop childbirth altogether, or space subsequent births but conception occurs. Participants reported that, usually, only the couple would know whether their pregnancy was intended or not, as pregnancy issues within marriage are not openly discussed. However, where there were disagreements and blame, these issues would involve third parties, like traditional guardians of the marriage bond or religious leaders through which counselling would be offered to the couple. Only then would there be a risk of outside people knowing that the pregnancy is unintended. Conversely, some participants explained that all pregnancies from a marital union are intended. They are “God’s blessings.” The indicated that if the husband asked for the woman’s hand in marriage, then any pregnancy from the marital union is satisfactory, regardless of the number or duration between pregnancies. The pregnancy “has an owner” (the husband); therefore it cannot be unintended. These ideas of “no unintended pregnancy within marriage” were mostly from older, less educated participants and individuals with strong religious views. However, most educated participants explained the importance of proper family planning and expected that even “God himself “likes orderliness, so He would never be displeased by a well sized family able to take adequate care of its children. We did not find patterns about the meaning by gender. Interestingly, within marriage, there were cultural expectations that soon after wedding, the couple should conceive. Absence of pregnancy within a few months led to conclusions of infertility problems. Therefore, a couple could have an unintended pregnancy; however, it would be “expected” by the community. The participants below describe that within marriage pregnancy cannot be unintended: KII 3 (female adult): “…not to a woman who is married because you have someone your husband, so when he gets you pregnant that’s not unintended because the pregnancy has its owner, the father is there and he knows he is the one responsible……It is intended since you are married, those ones are from God’s wish, gifts from heaven.” FGD4 P6 (adult male): “…You are two people in the house, so you know what the two of you are doing. (P5: You definitely know)…So if it happens that the woman has gotten pregnant and you should say, I did not expect it, is your head working? No, it cannot be....