Who is using emergency contraception in urban Ghana?

We identify correlates of ever and recent use of emergency contraception (EC) pills among family planning clients in urban Ghana. We use data from client exit interviews conducted with 992 women in Kumasi in 2008. Multivariate logistic regression models are fitted for ever and recent use of EC pills adjusting for socio-demographic, sexual- and fertility-control and EC knowledge-related variables. Some 72.9% of the women in our sample have heard about EC; 28.4% have ever used pills for EC, 12.3% have done so in the year preceding the study and 4.8% have used such pills more than once during the same period of time. Age, non-Catholic and non-Muslim religion and longer duration of method awareness are significant correlates of both ever and recent use of EC pills. Women who have first learned about EC from partners, family members, friends and mass media as opposed to a medical professional are significantly more likely to have ever used pills for EC. Non-Akan ethnicity, past abortion experience, use of contraception in the last three years and professional EC counseling increases the odds of women having recently used EC. In the context of Ghana where contraceptive use is low and many women rely on abortion to regulate their fertility, specific interventions are necessary to increase correct knowledge and subsequent use of EC.