Abstract

The study was carried out on awareness and utilization of reproductive health right among women of childbearing age attending welfare clinic at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar. This study employed a descriptive design (survey) to determine the awareness and utilization of reproductive rights among the women of childbearing age. The sampling technique that was used for this study is the simple random sampling technique. SPSS version 25.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Scientists) was used as statistical analysis tool. Findings from the study shows 37.5% of the respondents’ falls within the age category of 18-27 years, majority (75.0%) are married, 78.0% of them belong to low socio-economic status and more than one-third of the respondents (37.5%) are full time house wife. More than half (58.0%) of the respondents are aware of the reproductive rights and almost half utilize it to greater extent (43.0%). The following factors were found to be influencing utilization of reproductive health rights among respondents: Lack of awareness (32.5%), culture (38.0%), religious belief (44.5%), age of mother (32.5%), women’s health seeking behaviour (35.5%), financial constraints (28.0%), geographical location (39.5%), level of women’s education (37.5%), women’s decision-making power (38.0%), accessibility to health institutions (42.0%) and health workers behaviour (36.5%). There is need for the provision of quality reproductive rights and services delivery in a user-friendly and integrated manner