Table 5 Selected responses from FGD related to female sterilization, use of IUD and remarriage
Category | Type of response | Responses |
|---|---|---|
Female sterilization | Reasons for choosing female sterilization | “…because if we have too many children we are not free to work, as we need to care for the baby.” [multip, Buddhist, MLA] |
“Maybe they have a difficult delivery like caesarean section so they get steri.” [primip, Buddhist, WPA] | ||
“She is very old and worries about going through pregnancy again.” [primip, Buddhist, MKT] | ||
Misconceptions | “My mother had a steri because she had an abnormal placenta.” [primip, Buddhist, MKT] (After discussion the facilitator ascertained that the surgical procedure was a hysterectomy not a sterilization). | |
“I heard someone say you cannot walk and work for 3 years (after a steri).” [primip, Buddhist, MKT] | ||
Beliefs / religious | “Allah doesn’t like sterilization. If they get steri they don’t get to go to heaven, they go to sin.” [Multip, Burman Muslim, MLA] | |
From a woman who has four boys: “After this pregnancy I will get a steri, but if I have a girl I need another child because I hear steri is bad…people in my village believe this. (Can you explain?) We are Buddhist and if we have four boys it is bad. Four boys will carry the coffin, which is not good. Four boys means one parent could die at any time so we need another son.” [Multip, Buddhist, MKT] | ||
IUD | Reasons for choosing IUD | “Maybe some women live far and they cannot get to the clinic to buy/get medicine. This (IUD) is for 5 years so they don’t need to worry for 5 years. It’s easy for her.” [Multip, Buddhist, MKT] |
“Some have side effects of depo or pill so they can use this.” [Primip, Buddhist, WPA] | ||
Beliefs/religious | “Yes we can use this as we don’t kill the baby so Allah says it’s OK.” [Multip, Burman Muslim, MLA] | |
Positive reaction after seeing/touching IUD | “Before I thought you could get problems like pain in the uterus. Because we have never seen the IUD we worry and we don’t trust, but now we know we can trust.” [Multip, Burman Muslim, MLA] | |
Remarriage | Reasons to have a child after remarrying | “I saw one woman who was old and didn’t want to get pregnant but her second husband (usual terminology to express first remarriage) said he wanted a child, so she did.” [Multip, Buddhist, MKT] |