Pregnancy in the unwed White South African

A sociological and obstetric analysis of 130 unwed Afrikaans- and English-speaking mothers showed that 78% of English-speaking and 61% of Afrikaans-speaking mothers preferred to keep their babies. More than 80% of women in both language groups did not use contraceptives. There were no statistically significant differences between the unwed mothers and a married control group as regards antenatal anaemia, toxaemia of pregnancy, antepartum haemorrhage and breech presentation. Labour lasted longer than 18 hours in 8.6% of English-speaking unwed mothers but in none of the Afrikaans group. English-speaking mothers who gave up their babies for adoption had a higher incidence of prolonged labour, toxaemia, forceps delivery and premature birth.