Public reproductive health and ‘unintended’ pregnancies

In this Perspectives paper, I outline the limitations of the concept of ‘intentionality’ in public reproductive health understandings of pregnancy. ‘Intentionality’, ‘plannedness’, ‘wantedness’ and ‘timing’ place individual cognitions, psychology and/or behaviors at the center of public health conceptualizations of pregnancies, thereby leaving the underlying social and structural dynamics under-examined. I propose a model that places ‘supportability’ at the center of thinking about pregnancies and that allows for an analysis of the intersection of individual cognitions, emotions and behavior with micro-level interactive spaces and macro-level issues.