EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION: A LAST CHANCE TO PREVENT UNINTENDED PREGNANCY
EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION: A LAST CHANCE TO PREVENT UNINTENDED PREGNANCY

Summary/Abstract: Emergency contraception provides women with a last chance to prevent unintended pregnancy after sex. In the United States, available options for emergency contraception are three kinds of pills (levonorgestrel, ulipristal acetate, and regular oral contraceptive pills in different doses) and the copper IUD. Of these, the copper IUD is by far the most effective, followed by ulipristal acetate and levonorgestrel pills. After years of political struggle, levonorgestrel emergency contraceptive pills are now available without age or point-of-sale restrictions on store shelves. Although emergency contraceptive pills have not been shown to reduce unintended pregnancy or abortion rates at the population level, they are an important option for women who have experienced a failure of their regular method, have not used a method, or are sexually assaulted.

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