[Unplanned pregnancies in a developed society--a study on a maternity ward in Berlin]

Unplanned pregnancies are still common in developed societies. Although the medical-technical methods are mainly in use for family planning, other methods - not provided by the medical care system - have an important impact on the occurrence of unplanned pregnancies. Moreover the frequency of their use is not accurately recorded in usual study-protocols. The spread of methods based on the knowledge of physiologic infertility in woman's cycle (further: fertility awareness) and their relation to unplanned pregnancies is to be investigated.

A survey by way of self-administered questionnaire was conducted between September 1997 and March 1998 on women in a maternity ward in a hospital in Berlin (former East-Berlin, n = 220). The use of family planning methods (with a special focus on fertility awareness) and the planning state of pregnancies were recorded.

33 % of delivered pregnancies were unplanned. In the last year before conception occurred the part of the use of fertility awareness grew from 12 % to 30 % and correspondingly 25 % to 32 % of unplanned pregnancies were connected with these methods.

The blanking-out of fertility awareness in the framework of medical care system leads to a constellation where a considerable part of unplanned pregnancies occurs beyond its range. The adequate solution for this problem should be an incorporation of fertility awareness into the mainstream of family planning.