Background: Contraceptive discontinuation for reasons other than the desire for pregnancy is a public health concern because of its association with negative reproductive health outcomes. Discontinuation rate is increasing with a remarkable figure in Ethiopia. But reasons for discontinuing the method were not well addressed in different studies within the country. The study was conducted to assess magnitude and factors contributing to discontinuation of modern contraceptive methods among currently married women in Agarfa district.

Method: A community based quantitative cross-sectional study supplemented by qualitative method was conducted in Agarfa district. A total of 788 currently married women aged 15-49 years were involved in the survey. They were selected through systematic random sampling technique. The data was collected by using structured interviewer administered questionnaire, and analyzed by using SPSS version 21. Multivariate analysis was computed to identify the independent predictors of contraceptive method discontinuations. In-depth interview was conducted for the qualitative part of the study.Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data.

Result: The magnitude of discontinuation of modern contraceptive was 25.5%. The highest discontinuation rate was for injectables. The main reasons for the discontinuation were to get pregnancy and fear of side effects. The principal factors which were found positively associated with MC discontinuation were presence of TV in home, method failure, and participants’ perception that MC can harm the womb. Whereas, increased family size, joint decision on using FP by couples, and participants’ perceptions that their partner supports FP use and FP is beneficial to the family financially were found positively associated with continuing MC utilization.

Conclusion: The magnitude of MC discontinuation for all methods is still high. FP providers should improve quality of counseling on all of the FP methods, address misconceptions and fears that exist about modern contraceptives and highlight the benefits of FP during FP counseling.