Background: Stopping and discontinuation of contraceptives plays an important role in unwanted pregnancies and abortion. This study examines the reasons of switching and stopping contraceptive methods among married women between 15 and 49 years old in Mahabad city of Iran.

Methods: Data were taken from a sample of 700 households in late March and April 2012 in the city of Mahabad using a standard questionnaire. This research was a cross-sectional study. The sampling method was a combination of multi-stage cluster sampling, random and systematic random sampling.

Results: the results indicated that among the women who use contraceptive methods, 54.3% changed the used methods, while, 10.85% of the women stopped using contraception although they were required to use them. On the other hand, 1.3% of the sample stopped using contraceptives due to unwanted pregnancies caused by the failure of the contraceptive method. The main reason to switch and stop using contraceptives methods stated by the participants was being concerned of the impacts and side effects of these methods. The results of Logistic regression revealed that women’s knowledge of the methods, women’s autonomy, childbearing desires and women’s perceptions of the costs of preventing pregnancy have the greatest impact on the probability of discontinuation of contraceptive use.

Conclusion: Considering that the main reason for the contraception discontinuation and switching is the concerns regarding the impacts of the contraceptive methods and their side effects, increasing women’s knowledge of the benefits of contraceptive methods, especially, the modern methods seems necessary.