Cape Town - More women in the Western Cape are having unwanted and unplanned pregnancies than anywhere else in the country, and the numbers are highest in the poorest households.
Unwanted births in the province increased from 11.7% to 20.9% from 1998 to 2016, putting the province ahead of the Northern Cape, where unwanted births increased from 6.6% to 16% in the same period.
The figures are part of the 2016 Unwanted Fertility Report released by Statistics SA based on the 1998 and 2016 SA Demographic and Health Surveys.
According to the report: “Among women born 1965 to 1969, about 54% of them experienced fertility when they did not plan to have any more births, and this was an increase from 13.2% in the 1998 survey.”
Stats SA sought to establish the level of unwanted fertility in the context of fertility decline in the country. In the survey, women were asked about the planning status of each birth they had in the preceding five years, including current pregnancies at the time of the survey.
In terms of household wealth, the report revealed that births conceived when women did not want any more children were highest in the poorest households (25.8%) while these births were 13.1% in the richest households in 2016.
Women were asked about the planning status of each birth they had in the preceding five years, including current pregnancies at the time of the survey. A pregnancy that happens when a woman wants no more children is classified as unwanted.
ANC spokesperson for social development Gladys Bakubaku-Vos urged Finance MEC David Maynier to find a way to deal with the issue of unplanned births in his upcoming provincial budget next week.
Bakubaku-Vos said: “To address these issues, we need to dismantle the triple oppression of women of race, class and gender.
“As the Finance MEC in the province will table his budget next week, he needs to look at this survey as a call to him for a more pro-women budget. Women need more support and programmes to deal with their challenges, including these unplanned births and gender-based violence.
“The high number of unwanted pregnancies is a cause for serious concern. More worrying for me is the high number of young girls with unplanned babies.
“The survey showed that the births experienced by women aged 15 to 49 years increased from 17% in the 1998 survey to 20% in the 2016 survey. Such an increase shows that we need to do more to provide contraceptives, as well as to raise awareness about unplanned pregnancies. More family planning centres are needed in our communities,” said Bakubaku-Vos.
Joshua Chigome, spokesperson for Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez, said: “The Department of Health may be better placed to answer your questions, especially considering your questions pertain to fertility rates.”
By the time of going to print, there had been no response from Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo.