that they will know some of those things; also how to keep themselves well and all that. 

[Life Skills Teacher] 

This explanation seems to correspond to the following theory of the womb, which was 

expressed by several participants:  

When you are going to menstruate, the womb opens up so when you have sex and the 

man puts his sperm in you and the womb closes, you will conceive. [Karen] 

Several participants said that the fertile period occurred a week or ten days after 

menstruation. But most participants, including two teachers, said that it occurred during 

menstruation. 

4.4 

Pregnancy Intended or Unintended? 

All of the study participants said that their first pregnancy and most of their subsequent 

pregnancies had been  accidental  or unplanned. Some had a vague idea that they wanted at least 

one child or perhaps two, but none said that they were trying to get pregnant at that stage in their 

lives. Their strategies for preventing pregnancy tended to support their stated intention of not 

wanting to become pregnant. The majority of the participants said that they had used periodic 

abstinence or a modern contraceptive method at some point during their reproductive years, 

although none of them reported using anything other than periodic abstinence before their first 

pregnancy. The participants had been pregnant more than once during their teen years and after 

were more likely to have tried modern methods of contraception to prevent other pregnancies, 

especially if they had one or two children. They said that friends or health care providers had 

suggested that they use contraceptives after they had given birth. 

4.5 

Using Periodic Abstinence  

Many of the participants held nonbiological ideas about the fertile period and acted 

accordingly to prevent pregnancy. About a third of the girls we interviewed went into details 

about how they monitored their menstrual cycle each month. They counted by using a calendar. 

For example, Karen said, 

Sometimes it [my menstruation] comes on the 14

th

 or 16

th

. It changes I check the date, 

when it is getting past the date and it has not come, I get scared and go to the lab to 

check if I'm pregnant. [Karen] 

Some of the participants said that they had learned this with the help of their mother or of 

another caretaker. For example, Zoe said, 

When I started menstruating, my grandmother used to check the dates for me. I informed 

her when I start and when my period stopped, but then, when I matured, I stopped telling 

her about it. . .  When we were around 14, 15 years old she told us she would not keep 

checking it for us so we should note down the dates when we start and when we finish. If 

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