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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Reprod. Health
Sec. Access and Barriers to Reproductive Health Services
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frph.2025.1520027
This article is part of the Research Topic Access and Barriers to Reproductive Health Services among Immigrants and Populations in Conflict Zones View all 3 articles
The Impact of New Population Policies on Women's Reproductive Health Pattern in Ardabil, Iran: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study
Provisionally accepted- 1 Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran
- 2 Khalkhal University of Medical Sciences, Khalkhal, Iran
Background: Family planning helps couples make voluntary, informed, and responsible decisions about having children based on their economic, physical, and psychological capabilities. New population policies have banned family planning services in Iran. This study sought to investigate the impact of these policies on women's reproductive health pattern in Ardabil, Iran. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on 800 eligible women) in two groups of 400, pre/post new policies) attending health centers in Ardabil. Health centers were chosen using a stratified cluster method, and the eligible women were selected through convenience sampling. A researcher-designed questionnaire was used to collect data on demographic characteristics, reproductive health history, and contraceptive use in the past six months. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 24, with Z and Chi2 statistical tests. Results: The majority of women were aged 15-24 (45.25% and 53%), had education levels below a diploma (52.5% and 47%), and were housewives (88.5% and 84.75%). Prior to the policy change, 67.25% of women used modern contraception methods, compared to 31% after. Rates of unwanted pregnancies increased from 28.5% to 49.25%, and the incidence of one abortion rose from 14.25% to 21.75%. These differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: The ban on family planning services has led to a shift towards traditional contraception methods, an increase in unwanted pregnancies, and unsafe abortions. This highlights the need for health policymakers to implement appropriate interventions. Keywords: New population policies, Reproductive health, Women, Ardabil
Keywords: Afrouz Mardi: Investigation, supervision, Writing -original draft, Writing -review & editing. Nazila NEJHADDADGAR: Data curation, methodology, Software, Writing -original draft. Maryam Zare: Conceptualization, Formal analysis
Received: 30 Oct 2024; Accepted: 26 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mardi, NEJHADDADGAR and Zare. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Afrouz Mardi, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran
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