Kathmandu, Sept. 27 -- Parvati Thapa, 39, looks lost as she wanders into the district hospital in this isolated northwestern corner of Nepal. She and her husband have walked a whole day to get here, and they just found out she is 19 weeks pregnant.
Thapa already has three children, and after they were born she lost four sons one after another. After her menstruation stopped, she suspected menopause but now knows she is pregnant for the eighth time.
"My husband is away for months at a time, tending cattle in the mountains. Why should I use family planning when we meet so rarely?" asks Thapa, who looks much older than her age.
Like most women in the remote mountains, Thapa has never used contraceptives. Doing so carries a stigma for marri...