A community based cross sectional s tudy was carried out inrnArsi zone to investigate factors that affect women's use of ANC andrnto see the utilization pattern of prenatal care.rn1204 women in their 3rd trimester of pregnancy and 801 in thern3 months post delivery from 4 towns with access to ANC service werernincluded as study subjects. A pretested questionnaire wasrnadministered to collect data on study variables.rnThe study found that about 52.2% of women had not attendedrnantenatal clinics at all, and only 32.5% of women attenders hadrntheir first visit in the first trimester of pregnancy. About 45.2%rnof attenders had one or two prenatal visits while few (10.6%) hadrnthe recommended 5 visits. Reasons for attendance were found to bernnon-specific . The main reason for non-attendance at ANC clinicrnwere related to lack of knowledge of the need for ANC, and lack ofrntime.rnAnalysis showed that the chance of non-attendance was higherrnfor those women in the older age group, widows and divorced women,rnand those with no formal schooling, low monthly income, high parityrnand many living children.rnThe probability of non-attendance was higher for those withrnunplanned pregnancy and those who had negative attitudes to thernvrncurrent pregnancy . Family problems and lack of time were alsornfound to influence their attendance at ANC clinic.rnIn this study, those who had perceived any illness asrndangerous were more likely to be attenders of the service. Womenrnwho thought that they might develop dangerous health problemsrnduring pregnancy were also more likely to use the service.rnRecommendations concerning the improvement of ANC service andrnuse are proposed.