 If taken within 72 hours of intercourse, emergency contraception (EC) can reduce the risk of pregnancy by at least 75%. This gives a woman a relatively short time frame in which to locate and contact a provider to prescribe the pills and to find a pharmacist to fill the prescription.
About half of the 6.3 million pregnancies every year in the US are unintended, and more than half of those end in abortion. EC—one of the most important tools for reducing unintended pregnancy—remains so unknown and inaccessible. Many women have not heard of EC, and even those who report that they have often confuse it with the abortion pill, mifepristone. Yet, best estimates indicate that if EC was widely available in the US, 1.7 million unintended pregnancies could be avoided, and the number of abortions each year could be cut by as much as half.
EC has the potential to greatly reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, however, that potential is largely unrealized because most women are unaware that a back-up method is available and most health care providers do not routinely discuss emergency contraception with their patients.
Health Professionals are key to reaching this potential and to raising awareness of and usage of EC. |
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