The use of the morning-after pill was first approved in the United States 15 years ago, and, according to a new study, it was a popular decision. The first government report to analyse how emergency contraception has affected sexual health has found that the use of the morning-after pill has notably increased in the United States, with roughly 1 in 9 younger women reporting that they have taken the pill after sex.
For the study, which was released by the CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) last month, a team from the National Centre for Health Statistics conducted a survey involving over 12,000 females aged between 15 and 44 years. The researchers, led by Kimberly Daniels, found that 11% of the subjects who’d had sex between 2006 and 2010 had used the morning-after pill. This is a huge leap from 2002 when, just a few years after adults were able to get emergency contraception on prescription, only 4% of people reported use.
In 2006, the FDA approved the sale of the morning-after contraceptive pill without a prescription for people over the age of 18. The scientists explained that this is why the number of people using it has increased, and it could also be due to the media coverage of experts trying to raise the age limit to buy it over-the-counter.
Of the participants who took the pill, 50% said it was because they’d had unprotected sex, and the majority of the rest reported it was due to a condom breaking or fears that their other birth control method might not work. Women in their 20s were more likely to take care of their sexual wellbeing in this way, as one in four had taken the morning-after pill. Roughly one in five females who never got married used the pill, compared one in 20 females who were married.
59% of the subjects who had taken the morning-after pill reported they had taken it only once, whilst 24% reported two times and 17% reported three or more times. White, educated women were the most likely to take the pill and, according to James Trussell, a researcher from Princeton University who has researched on the area, it’s not surprising. ‘I don’t think you can go to college in the United States and not know about emergency contraception,’ he said.
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