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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Linda Prine, MD, The Center for Reproductive Health Education in Family Medicine, 126 Fifth Avenue, Suite 805, New York, NY 10011 and Noaa Shimoni, MD, Department of Family Medicine, Beth Israel, 16 East 16th Street, New York, NY 10003, 212 633-0800, noaa.shimoni@gmail.com.

The typical U.S. woman wants only 2 children. To achieve this goal, she must use contraceptives for roughly 3 decades of her life1, an effort that often requires repeated medical consultations. Yet as of 2002, only 2% of American women are using IUDs.2 Most women rely on methods with significantly lower efficacy, increasing the rate of unintended pregnancy in this country. What are the myths that prevent women and their doctors from choosing one of the most highly effective and yet fully reversible methods of contraception? This poster will explore the myths vs. the evidence about IUDs. Because IUDs have such high efficacy with low side effects, we should fully understand which women can use them, and at which points in their lives.

References:

1 The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), Fulfilling the Promise: Public Policy and U.S. Family Planning Clinics, New York: AGI, 2000.

2 The Alan Guttmacher Institute. Facts In Brief: Contraceptive Use. Available at http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.html.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Compare the efficacy of the major methods of commonly used contraceptives to that of the IUD.
• 2. Name the 2 kinds of IUD devices available in the US, and discuss the indications and contraindications for each.
• 3. Describe common myths about IUDs and explain why these myths are inaccurate.

Keywords: Communication,

Related Web page: www.reproductiveaccess.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered