Emergency Contraception
The availability of emergency contraception pills (ECP) has raised concerns on the part of the public and medical personnel as to whether this form of avoiding pregnancy in youthful females (ages 16-24) might constitute a serious health risk. The ramifications of providing ECP to young women is addressed in this study, with consideration as to whether its use and availability had secondary effects on regular contraception use.
Past research show overwhelming indications that emergency contraception has proven safe and effective for women to take, following unprotected intercourse. Planned Parenthood (2006) defines unprotected intercourse as intercourse where: (1) the condom broke or slipped off and ejaculation occurred inside the vagina, (2) the woman forgot to take her birth control pills, insert her IUD, ring, or apply her patch, (3) the diaphragm, cap, or shield slipped out of place, and ejaculation occurred inside the vagina, (4) There was a miscalculation of "safe" days, (5) There was a late withdrawal and ejaculation occurred inside the vagina, (6) There was a lack of use of any birth control, or (7) the male forced the woman to have unprotected vaginal sex. (Johnsen)
The above causes were some of the reasons unwanted pregnancies reached record levels among young adults in prior decades. However, recently, since the availability of ECP, some claim that the use of ECP has prevented 51,000 abortions in during this century. (Hatcher, et al. 2004)
America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being (2006) gives us good news about the recent state of affairs. The data in this year's report shows that adolescent birth rates continued to decline to the lowest ever recorded, immunization rates were at record highs, more young children were being read to daily by a family member, average mathematics scores of 4th- and 8th-graders reached an all-time high, and teen smoking was at the lowest rate since data collection began.
On the other hand, there are good indications that the proportion of births to unmarried women continued to rise, the rate of infants born with low or very low birthweight continued to increase, the trend of overweight children also rose, and the percentage of children living in families with incomes below poverty levels remained at 17%. Births to unmarried women constituted 36% of all births in 2004, reaching a record high of nearly 1.5 million births.
Childstats 3)
In 1995, the Institute of Medicine reported in its publication, "The Best Intentions," that there are immense consequences associated with unwanted pregnancies. Decreasing the incidence of unplanned pregnancies by any method creates better public health. When pregnancies are reduced, so are abortion rates and, for those who choose to continue their pregnancies, lower rates of preterm and intrauterine growth retarded infants. (Henderson 1) Unplanned pregnancies not only affect the health of the teen mother, but the health and well-being of the children produced from these pregnancies. (See Exhibit a)
Routinely providing ECP, along with education, to adolescent and young females was done for this study, because teens are considered to the prime population for this type of activity. The CDC's National Vital Statistics reported that national teen pregnancy rates are 34.3% for girls age 15-17, and 65.7% for girls age 18-19 (Hamilton, Martin & Ventura, 2004). But Planned Parenthood claims that, with the use of ECP, only two out of 100 will become pregnant. This is a drastic drop in the incidence of unwanted pregnancies. (Johnsen)
Statement of the Purpose
The purpose of this study is to compare the control group's statistics with those of the group given ECP in advance to determine if there are side effects, to determine if there is any decline in unintended pregnancies with ready use of ECP, and to see if there were any differences in use of ECP between the groups. Other findings might be whether there were any differences in use of other birth control methods or increased sexual risk behavior among these young adults.
Discussion of Significance
Trussell and Wynn (OPR.Princeton.edu) examined questions to not-2-late.com (an ECP call-in and internet hotline) to analyze users concerns and reactions to ECP. They analyzed e-mails sent to the Emergency Contraception Website over five years, from July 1999-June 2004, and determined how many viewed the informational pages using Microsoft Site Server Analysis:
Of the 7,022 e-mails received, 29% did not contain questions about EC. The remaining e-mails reveal that EC users are concerned with how to use EC (23%), side effects (21%), pregnancy (17%), whether EC is needed in a given situation (14%), EC access (8%), EC effectiveness (4%) and how EC works (3%).
Visitors to the site were mainly interested in how to use EC and how to interpret bleeding after EC use. These e-mails point to the need for further research on EC-related questions that are of concern to...
Put another way, abstinence advocates hope that saying "abstinence is the only method which is 100% effective in preventing pregnancy and STIs" will be misinterpreted by the public and politicians to mean the same thing as "abstinence-only education is the only method which is 100% effective in preventing pregnancy and STIs." This is akin to pretending that the fact that never using silverware is the only method which is
Controversies Over Women's Access Birth Control This study focuses on the article titled "Controversies over Women's Access to Birth Control" as written by Marcia Clemmitt. The author reviews different perspectives to close down the issue of dispensing birth control. It begins with an example of a pharmacist who refused to dispense his professional duty due to moral and religious practices. He viewed birth control as an immoral vice. The author explores
That decision though is generally influenced by which methods are socially acceptable within an individual's community, and which methods are most completely understood. It is important, then, for educators and physicians to not only inform women that the pill exists, but they must also explain how it works and why it should be used. Emergency contraception in pill form is a dose of estrogen and/or progestin, generally taken in two
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This has come about as more knowledge is being provided to mothers about health education and family planning. Health workers are starting to work harder at educating women about their health and safety, and intervening more often to protect women's health and prevent dangerous forms of contraception including self-induced abortion (Olenick, 2000). Women living in rural areas still generally have more children and give birth to more live babies
The so-called "moral majority" does not like the idea of a woman "getting away" with "irresponsible sex." However, not all failures of birth control are due to irresponsibility. A woman whose partner's condom broke during sex should have a second chance (a "Plan B" as the issue has come to be called) to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. Even if the sex is irresponsible and unprotected, young teenagers, for example --
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