title: Fertility control? Middle-aged Australian women's retrospective reports of their pregnancies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess middle-aged Australian women's retrospective reports of how intended and wanted were their pregnancies, and the degree of happiness associated with these pregnancies.
  
  
  METHODS
  A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 1000 participants in the Mid-Age cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Responses from 811 women (81%) showed that, although 32% of first pregnancies were unplanned and 29% were unwanted, most women recall being happy with their pregnancies and termination rates were very low. The second pregnancy was the most planned and wanted and associated with the highest levels of happiness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While the majority of middle-aged women report having been happy to be pregnant, and the majority of pregnancies are described retrospectively as planned and wanted, a significant proportion of pregnancies are unwanted, unplanned or resulting from unintended contraceptive failure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data support the continuing need for widely available, affordable and sensitive fertility control services.
authors.affiliation: Sydney Centre for Reproduction Health Research, Family Planning New South Wales, Ashfield, NSW. edithw@fpnsw.org.au
authors.forename: Edith
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Weisberg
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bateson
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Read
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Estoesta
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001315:Australia; D003267:Contraception / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D049168:Pregnancy, Unplanned; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires