Pregnancy attitudes and contraceptive plans among women entering jail.

ABSTRACT Unplanned pregnancies are an important and costly public health problem. Women entering jail are at particularly high risk for unplanned pregnancies when they leave jail, given the high rates of poverty, substance abuse and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in this population, all of which are associated with unplanned pregnancies. Attitudes toward pregnancy vary substantially, influencing openness of incarcerated women to starting a birth control method. This study was conducted as part of a Title X service evaluation and examined varying attitudes towards pregnancy and associated plans to use contraceptives. The current study included 223 women entering jail who were, under 36 years of age, fertile, sexually active with men, and not planning to become pregnant in the near future. Nearly half of the women had negative pregnancy attitudes (PAs), indicating that they did not want to become pregnant, while 41.3% endorsed ambivalent PAs. Compared to those with ambivalent PAs, those with Negativ...