In Sweden, contraceptive methods for birth control are readily available, but one in four pregnancies was legally terminated during the period from 1975 to 1990. Our purpose in conducting the present study was to describe young women's choices and use of contraceptive methods and their attitudes to abortion. The participants were 305 Swedish women ages 23–29 years. Eighty‐eight percent of the women were using some contraceptive method. The most common method was hormonal (43%), followed by a barrier method (22%). The women considered that abortion should not be used as a method of birth control and that the fact that a pregnancy is unintended is not a sufficient reason for terminating it. An acceptable reason, they thought, for a woman to have an abortion is the woman's present situation, in particular her social situation. The women were aware that the use of contraceptive methods gives them the chance to choose if and when they wish to have children.