Pregnancy decision-making among women with a recent Medicaid-funded birth

While pregnancy, birth, and childrearing represent fulfillment of significant life goals, unintended pregnancy has been associated with a host of unfavorable health, social, achievement, and economic outcomes. Despite decades of study and intervention, rates of unintended pregnancy have remained relatively unchanged for over three decades and continue to elude researchers, clinicians, and policymakers. Unintended pregnancy and its outcomes disproportionately impact women of socioeconomic disadvantage, racial minorities, unmarried cohabitating women, and women 18 to 24 years old. The purpose of this study was to expand the knowledge and understanding of factors and forces that influence sexually active women in their pregnancy decision-making, including the initiation and use of contraception.