The ability to decide whether to have children, how many, and with whom, is fundamental to the reproductive health rights of girls and #women. When this right is ignored or compromised by social constraints or abuse, lack of health services or the low priority placed on women’s wellbeing – the consequences snowball.
Unintended pregnancy impacts individual lives and overall societal progress. It impedes progress in health, education and gender #equality, increasing poverty and lack of opportunity, and costing billions in resources.
To overcome this life-threatening crisis, several myths about unintended pregnancies must be put to an end;
𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡 1: Only promiscuous women and reckless teenagers have unintended pregnancies.
Truth: Any fertile woman, regardless of age, marital status or background, can get pregnant unexpectedly.
𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡 2: Unintended pregnancy is always entirely a person’s fault.
Truth: While unintended pregnancy at the individual level is an obvious result of unprotected sex, the wider causes have societal roots which play a large role in determining whether women are more likely to get pregnant unexpectedly.
𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡 3: Married women don’t have to worry about unintended pregnancies.
Truth: Married women are just as susceptible to unintended pregnancy as other women. The assumption that marriage = having a child is wrong.
𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡 4: Unintended pregnancy is not a real crisis.
Truth: The high rate of unintended pregnancy has devastating global consequences that affect almost every aspect of human development. In a world already facing such major challenges as climate change, conflict, natural disaster and mass migration, unintended pregnancy and its related harms represent a monumental waste, from billions of dollars in health-care costs to lower levels of social progress, to persistently high levels of unsafe abortion and resulting maternal deaths, to increased poverty and hunger.
#mythsandmisconceptions #unintendedpregnancies #womenhealthmatters #knowledgeispower #SRHawareness #pregnancypreparedness #familyplanning #womenshealth #Africa #kenya #ghana #southafrica