Despite a decline in fertility, an increase in contraceptive prevalence, and a wide expansion of family
planning programs in Iran and Turkey, a large proportion of “birth limiters” rely on withdrawal to
avoid pregnancy. Adopting a comparative approach, this study draws on data from the 2000 Iran
DHS and 2003 Turkey DHS to examine the determinants of the practice of withdrawal among
birth limiters. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to estimate the likelihood of
withdrawal use among two representative samples of birth limiters. Higher education and wealth
were associated with greater likelihood of withdrawal use among birth limiters in Iran, while an
inverse association was found in Turkey. Older age was positively associated with withdrawal in
both countries, whereas having more than four children was inversely related to use. Study results
suggest that family planning and reproductive health programs in Iran and Turkey should be
aware of the groups that have high rates of withdrawal use, should educate couples in the effective
use of withdrawal, and should encourage the use of more effective modern methods and emergency
contraceptives when appropriate