--- title: Half of Brazilian Women Avoid Pregnancy Because of Zika description: Researchers found that a majority of women in Brazil are avoiding pregnancy because of fears surrounding Zika infection canonical: https://time.com/4609176/zika-pregnancy-brazilian/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-22T23:51:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:25:41.087Z article:section: Health og:title: Half of Brazilian Women Are Avoiding Pregnancy Because of Zika og:description: Researchers found that a majority of women in Brazil are avoiding pregnancy because of fears surrounding Zika infection og:url: https://time.com/4609176/zika-pregnancy-brazilian/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb33be7534a99328/6988b3dda988ca56566ba833/gettyimages-139289970.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4272 og:image:height: 2403 og:image:alt: Aedes aegypti og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Half of Brazilian Women Are Avoiding Pregnancy Because of Zika twitter:description: Researchers found that a majority of women in Brazil are avoiding pregnancy because of fears surrounding Zika infection twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb33be7534a99328/6988b3dda988ca56566ba833/gettyimages-139289970.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Half of Brazilian Women Are Avoiding Pregnancy Because of Zika > Sponsored content. 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Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Dec 22, 2016 11:51 PM UTC [Brazil](http://time.com/4208233/brazil-recife-zika-outbreak/) has undeniably been the country hardest hit by the latest epidemic of Zika virus; it leads the world in confirmed cases of infection with nearly 110,000 cases, according to the [latest data from the Pan American Health Organization](http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com%5Fcontent&view=article&id=12390&Itemid=42090&lang=en). Those infections have contributed to more than 2,200 cases of [congenital Zika syndrome in babies](http://time.com/4245352/microcephaly-zika-cases-brazil-increase/) (microcephaly) born to women infected with the virus. The latest report from a Brazilian scientist studying the impact that the epidemic is having on reproductive choices shows that the consequences of the Zika outbreak may be long lasting. In a brief letter published in the _BMJ Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care_, the researcher reports that 56% of women in a nationally representative sample who were surveyed said that they avoided getting pregnant because of Zika. More women in the hardest hit areas of Brazil, in the northeastern part of the country, said they didn’t want to get pregnant, as well as more black and non–white women. The report says that the findings should alert government officials to the urgent need to address reproductive health options for women. [Abortion is illegal in Brazil](http://time.com/4230975/brazil-abortion-laws-zika-outbreak/), except in cases of rape, which may push more women to avoid getting pregnant under the threat of Zika. Better access and more options for birth control should also be a priority to give women longer term control over their reproductive health, the report says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4609176/zika-pregnancy-brazilian/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4609176/zika-pregnancy-brazilian/"},"headline":"Half of Brazilian Women Are Avoiding Pregnancy Because of Zika","datePublished":"2016-12-22T23:51:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:25:41.087Z","description":"Researchers found that a majority of women in Brazil are avoiding pregnancy because of fears surrounding Zika","url":"https://time.com/4609176/zika-pregnancy-brazilian/","keywords":["Zika"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb33be7534a99328/6988b3dda988ca56566ba833/gettyimages-139289970.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb33be7534a99328/6988b3dda988ca56566ba833/gettyimages-139289970.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Aedes aegypti","caption":"Aedes aegypti","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/zika/","name":"Zika"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4609176/zika-pregnancy-brazilian/","name":"Half of Brazilian Women Are Avoiding Pregnancy Because of Zika"}}]}] ```