“It was God’s will”: Continuing pregnancy after perinatal infection by Zika virus

OBJECTIVE: to understand the influence of the religious beliefs on the decision of a group of women residing in the Huila Department to continue their pregnancies despite perinatal infection by the Zika virus. METHOD: a focused ethnography. The participants were 21 women who had presented a perinatal infection by the Zika virus and whose babies were born with congenital microcephaly. 2 discussion groups and 6 semi-structured interviews were conducted, and thematic analysis was used for data treatment. RESULTS: three themes emerged, namely: “God, why me?” is the initial questioning of the women to God for the prenatal diagnosis of microcephaly in their babies, “Clinging to a divine miracle” describes how the women did not lose their faith and begged for a divine miracle for their babies to be born healthy, and “It was God’s will” means acceptance, resignation, and respect for God’s will, as well as the denial to abort despite the medical recommendations. CONCLUSION: religiosity and religious beliefs were determinant factors in the women’s decision to continue their pregnancies. It becomes necessary to continue investigating this theme to understand their experiences and to generate follow-up and support actions from nursing care.