Achieving fertility control through woman’s autonomy and access to maternal healthcare: Are we on track? In-depth analysis of PDHS-2012-13

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Fertility control preferences and maternal healthcare have recently become a major concern for developing nations with evidence suggesting that low fertility control rates and poor maternal healthcare are among major obstructions in ensuring health and social status for women. Our objective was toanalyze the factors that influence women’s autonomy, access to maternal healthcare, and fertility control preferences in Pakistan. METHODS: Data consisted of 11,761 ever-married women of ages 15-49 years from PDHS, 2012-13. Variables included socio-demographics, women’s autonomy, fertility control preferences and access to maternal healthcare. RESULTS: Findings from multivariate analysis showed that women’s younger age, having less than three number of children and independent or joint decision-making (indicators of high autonomy) remained the most significant predictors for access to better quality maternal healthcare and better fertility control preferences when other variables were controlled. CONCLUSION: Women’s access to good quality maternal health care and fertility control preferences are directly and indirectly influenced by their demographic characteristics and decision-making patterns in domestic affairs.