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Effect of COVID-19 on birth planning and contraceptive use among married women in urban India: Evidence from nine selected states

Sana Ashraf, Population Council
Ashita Munjral, Reproductive Health Program
Anshul Kastor, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Arupendra Mozumdar, Population Council
Ankita Shukla, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Abhishek Kumar, Population Council
Subrato Kumar Mondal, Usaid India
Niranjan Saggurti, Population Council
Rajib Acharya, Population Council

In India, COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted provision of non-COVID related healthcare services, including family planning (FP), particularly during the countrywide lockdown between April-June 2020. The economic crisis during and post-lockdown has also resulted in job loss. Interrupted provision of FP services together with job loss might have affected birth planning among young population, particularly in the urban areas, where job is the only mean of survival. With this backdrop, this paper examines effect of COVID-19 on birth planning and contraceptive use in urban India. This study is based on a telephonic survey, conducted on 4718 urban married women age 18-34 years of nine states – Assam, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand – during January-February 2021. Findings showed that 3% of the women had unplanned pregnancies in 2020 and 5% of women had planned to have a baby in 2020 but did not conceive. Furthermore, a considerable proportion women, who were using a reversible method before the lockdown, have discontinued using the method during and after the lockdown due to inaccessibility of the services. Findings suggest that, proper planning of FP service provision and increased channels of access may avoid unintended pregnancy during such pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19, Family planning and contraception

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session 44. Health and Reproductive Health