Objective: To examine the contraceptive use of teenage girls requesting abortion.
Study design: A questionnaire survey was made concerning contraceptive use, awareness and the attitude toward contraceptives. The Mantel-Haenszel test was applied to compare contraceptive determinants between teenagers (<20 years old) and older women.
Results: The use of reliable contraceptive methods was significantly less frequent among the teenagers than among the older counterparts, but this difference was much more significant (P<0.001) between those who requested abortion (OR=0.44) than between the controls (OR=0.51). The knowledge about emergency contraceptive pills was similarly significantly poorer between the teenagers in the abortion group (P<0.001) relative to the older women (OR=0.07) and the teenagers in the control group (OR=0.10). Financial means was not a significant determinant in the choice of contraceptives.
Conclusion: To prevent unwanted pregnancy among teenagers, the media, the family, the school and health-care providers should focus on sexual education and information.