Study Shows Greater Reproductive Health Risks for Urban AI/AN Women

American Indian and Alaska Native women living in urban areas are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to report non-voluntary first sexual intercourse, unintended and teen pregnancies, unprotected first sex and first sex with older partners, according to a study released last week by the Urban Indian Health Institute, a division of the Seattle Indian Health Board.

Here are some highlights from the report:

• About 17 percent of urban AI/AN women have experienced non-voluntary sex their first time, compared to 8 percent of white women.
• Nearly 14 percent of urban AI/AN women said their first sex partner was seven or more years older, compared to 9 percent of white women.
• Urban AI/AN who had unprotected sex in the past year, had sex before age 15 and who had more than two sex partners in the past three months are 77 percent more likely to have had an unintended pregnancy than whites with the same sexual risk status.
• Urban AI/AN reports of two or more abortions are twice that of NH-whites (10 percent vs. 5 percent).

To view the full report, click here.