Child-bearing Decisions among HIV-positive Women: Results from a Qualitative Study in Kampala, Uganda

Ann M. Moore, Guttmacher Institute
Clemencia Nakabiito, Mulago Hospital
Florence Mirembe, Makerere University
Susheela D. Singh, Guttmacher Institute
Akinrinola Bankole, Guttmacher Institute
Lindsay Dauphinee, Guttmacher Institute
Elena Prada, Guttmacher Institute

Using 38 in-depth interviews with HIV-positive women and 15 in-depth interviews with health care providers (HCPs) of HIV-positive women, this paper explores women’s fertility experiences since being diagnosed HIV-positive. Over two-thirds of women reacted negatively to their last pregnancy while an equal proportion of the respondents’ partners reacted positively. Approximately half of the women considered abortion at their last pregnancy; almost half of them decided against it because of the health risks to the mother of obtaining an abortion in a country were abortion is illegal. Over-two thirds said that their HIV status had influenced them to revise their childbearing preferences downward or stop childbearing altogether with respondents more likely to say at the time of the interview that they had decided to stop childbearing altogether. While almost all HCPs had been asked about abortion by their HIV-positive patients, they overwhelmingly encouraged women to carry the pregnancy to term.