'Misinformed' Women Fear Using Contraceptive Pill

Women fear using the morning after pill, owing to misinformation about how it works and where they can get it, revealed reproductive health experts.

Women fear using the "morning after" pill, owing to misinformation about how it works and where they can get it, revealed reproductive health experts.

In the first national study of women's use of emergency contraception since it was made available over the counter, it has been found that majority of women do not know they can buy it without a prescription.

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Oral contraceptive or birth control pills contain hormones that prevent pregnancy. It is one of the most reliable methods of contraception.

In fact, they also had many inaccurate beliefs.

A third believed it caused an abortion and nearly two-thirds thought it could lead to birth defects if it did not prevent pregnancy.

Melissa Hobbs, the study leader and researcher at La Trobe University's Mother and Child Health Research Centre said that emergency contraception works by using hormones to convince the body to delay ovulation and it would not damage a foetus if it failed as contraception.

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Because it is known as the morning after pill, many believed it could only be taken literally the morning after sex when in fact it can be used relatively effectively for up to five days.

"But I suppose the most surprising thing was that less than half the women knew it was available from the pharmacy without a prescription. Making it available over the counter was a great policy but without providing [women with] information it won't work," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Hobbs as saying.

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Condoms are an effective form of contraception. Condoms have been used for the past 400 years. They have been one of the most popular methods of contraception since the 19th century.

The research showed that those arguments were untrue, said Hobbs.

Her study surveyed about 630 women aged between 16 and 35 of whom 26 per cent had used emergency contraception.

The most common reason for not using it was they did not think they would get pregnant despite having unprotected sex.

Leslie Cannold, a spokeswoman for Reproductive Choice Australia, said many women lacked understanding of how their bodies worked.

The study is published in the journal Contraception.

Source-ANI