Women risk pregnancy fearing promiscuous slur
And they are worried about getting the tag of “looking for sex” if not in a relationship and on the Pill, according to the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) report on women’s attitude to fertility, sex and motherhood.
“Fear of being labelled as promiscuous is leading Irish women to risk unplanned pregnancy rather than protect themselves,” said CPA chairperson Olive Braiden yesterday.
A woeful lack of sex education is leading to crisis pregnancies among school leavers and other young adults.
A second study on sexuality, contraception and unplanned pregnancy reveals that sexually active young people have “a strong tendency” for sexual risk-taking and poor levels of fertility knowledge.
Dr Jo Murphy-Lawless, a Trinity College Dublin sociologist who carried out research on women’s attitudes about fertility, sex and motherhood, said she was “shocked” by the findings.
All but one of the women surveyed reported having had unsafe sex at some point. “The perceptions of women we interviewed were that women still carry the weight of responsibility to deal with contraception,” she said.
And the report showed the stigma attaching to women having sex outside marriage “remains surprisingly strong, especially for younger women”.
The CPA is worried that people aged between 18 and 25 are less likely to consistently use contraception than other age groups.
Some 58% of people who didn’t want to get pregnant gave “unplanned sex” as the reason for not using contraceptives.
Drinking alcohol or taking drugs was the reason cited by 21%.
On the back of the findings, the agency is launching a campaign on TV and in cinemas urging young adults to always use contraceptives.
The study showed one-in-five 18 to 25-year-old women have unplanned pregnancies.
The majority of young people now have had their first sexual experience by the age of 18.
The study also showed the abortion rate for 20 to 24-year-olds was higher than for any other age group.
