title: Contraception and abortion in a low-fertility setting: the role of seasonal migration.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Seasonal labor migration is common among men in many former Soviet republics. Little research has examined contraceptive use and induced abortion among women in such low-fertility, high-migration settings, according to husband's migration status.
  
  
  METHODS
  Combined data from 2,280 respondents of two surveys of married women aged 18-45 in rural Armenia-one conducted in 2005 and one in 2007-were used. Logistic regression analyses examined whether a husband's migration status was associated with his wife's current use of the pill or the IUD, or with the probability that she had had a pregnancy that ended in induced abortion. Additional analyses were conducted to determine whether relationships were moderated by household wealth.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women with a migrant husband were less likely than those with a nonmigrant husband to be currently using the pill or the IUD (odds ratio, 0.6); with increased household wealth, the likelihood of method use increased among women with a nonmigrant husband, but decreased slightly among women with a migrant husband. Overall, the probability that a pregnancy ended in abortion did not differ by migration status; however, the likelihood of abortion increased with wealth among women married to a nonmigrant, but not among those married to a migrant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite their husband's absence, women married to a migrant may have an unwanted pregnancy rate similar to that of women married to a nonmigrant. Improved access to modern contraceptive methods is likely to be positively associated with contraceptive use among women with a nonmigrant husband, but not among those with a migrant husband.
authors.affiliation: ARC DECRA Fellow, Australian Population and Migration Centre, University of Adelaide, Australia, arusyak.sevoyan@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Arusyak
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sevoyan
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Agadjanian
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D001136:Armenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003267:Contraception / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012621:Seasons; D055815:Young Adult