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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Mary E. Buie, MPH, MS, Community and Family Health, University of South Florida, Lawton Chiles Center, 3111 Fletcher Avenue, MDC 100, Tampa, FL 33613, 863-686-2899, mbuie@hsc.usf.edu

Context: Emergency contraception is an effective method to prevent pregnancy within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. Knowledge about emergency contraception is increasing; however, few women actually use emergency contraception. Therefore, it is imperative to discover the characteristics of women using emergency contraception in an effort to expand its use.

Methods: Data from 7,643 women participating in the National Survey of Family Growth (Cycle 6) describe the characteristics of women reporting emergency contraception use. Multivariate analysis is used to determine which sociodemographic and reproductive history characteristics affect the likelihood of emergency contraception use.

Results: Overall, 3.6% of sexually active women reported use of emergency contraception. Women without physician education about emergency contraception were three times as likely to report use as women educated by a physician within the last year. Emergency contraception use was common among women with private insurance (2.4%). Women who never married were more than twice as likely to report emergency contraception use as married women. Emergency contraception use was more common among white women (2.5%) than among black women (0.5%), Hispanic women (0.5%), or women of other races/ethnicities. In multivariate analyses, marital status, race, education level, insurance status, religious beliefs, and physician education had a significant effect on the use of emergency contraception.

Discussion/Conclusions: This analysis provides an in-depth profile of emergency contraception users, aiding in the dissemination of information and intervention design to increase emergency contraception use. These results may be used as a comparative baseline if emergency contraception achieves over-the-counter status in the future.

Learning Objectives: By the end of the session, the participants will be able to

• Define emergency contraception.
• Describe the population using emergency contraception in the United States.
• Develop strategies to disseminate information and design interventions to increase emergency contraception access and use.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered