Domestic Violence, Unwanted Pregnancy and Pregnancy Termination among Urban Women of Bangladesh

This paper explores the relationship between domestic violence against women inflicted by husbands, unwanted pregnancy and pregnancy termination of Bangladeshi urban women. The study used the nationally representative 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) data. The BDHS covered a representative sample of 10,996 ever married women from rural and urban areas. The BDHS used a separate module to collect information from women regarding domestic violence. The survey gathered information of domestic violence from 1,013 urban women which are the basis of the study. Simple cross tabulation, bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses were performed to analyzing data. Overall, the lifetime prevalence of domestic violence was 47.5%. Of the most recent pregnancies, 15.6% were unwanted and 16.0% of the women terminated pregnancy in their marital life. The multivariate binary logistic regression analyses yielded quantitatively important and reliable estimate of unwanted pregnancy and pregnancy termination. The regression analyses yielded significantly (p<0.05) increased risk of unwanted pregnancy only for physical violence (OR=2.35, 95% CI=1.28-4.32) and for both physical and sexual violence (OR=2.27, 95% CI=1.02-5.28), and higher risk of pregnancy termination for only physical violence (OR=1.41, 95% CI=0.95-2.10) and for both physical and sexual violence (OR=1.81, 95% CI=1.07-3.04) than women who were never abused. Current age, higher parity and early marriage are also important determinants of unwanted pregnancy and pregnancy termination. Violence against women inflicted by husbands is commonplace in Bangladesh. Any strategy to reduce the burden of unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion should include prevention of violence against women and strengthening women’s sexual and reproductive health.