Thu, 2011-01-06 12:03
Ever notice how sometimes the deeper one digs the more interesting some news tidbits become?
In a news-roundup post, Beth Saunders of RHRealityCheck.org passes along with insufficient comment a tidbit from an anti-choice website that...
Twenty percent of British women used emergency contraception in the past year, according to a survey by the Co-Operative Pharmacy.
Source: RHRealityCheck.org
If you go to the site itself (LifeSiteNews) you get a little more background... but obviously you also get more anti-choice slant (emphasis mine)
A Co-Operative Pharmacy survey of 3000 people found that 20 percent of women aged 18 to 35 took the “emergency contraceptive” pill last year. The same group said they had typically used the drug, which only acts as a genuine contraceptive in some cases, when they had had sex after using drugs and/or alcohol.
The poll further found that up to 250,000 women had used the drug two or more times during the year. One in fifty 18-21 year-olds said they used the MAP as their normal form of contraception. One sixth of the women surveyed said they had contracted a sexually transmitted disease.
Source: LifeSiteNews
And if you go to the actual Co-Operative Pharmacy press release you get the same core information minus (shock, gasp, surprise!) mention of "only acts as a genuine contraceptive in some cases." Which is good because, of course, that would be factually incorrect. Here's the straight story from the source.
Thousands of women risk waking up on New Years Day with more than a hangover as over one in five blame partying with drink or drugs for not using contraception with a new partner, figures* reveal today (1 January 2011).
The Co-operative Pharmacy, part of The Co-operative Group, questioned 3,000 people about contraception and found that one in five women aged 18 to 35 years old have used the morning after pill in the last 12 months. One in six women admitted to having had a sexual disease.
The research also revealed that the preferred method of contraception for almost half of all women was the pill and two out of five favoured condoms. 250,000** women have used the emergency contraceptive three times or more and more than one in 50 of those aged 18 to 21 said they preferred to use the morning after pill as a regular form of contraception.
Source Co-Operative Pharmacy
I don't feel qualified to comment on on-the-ground experiences (feel free to chime if you know otherwise) but it sounds like most pharmacists don't agree that EC is all that great on one's system. From the Co-Operative press release:
Mandeep Mudhar, Head of NHS Development at The Co-operative Pharmacy, said: “Our research shows that some women are taking unnecessary risks with their health. The morning after pill should be a last resort to prevent an unwanted pregnancy after having unprotected sex or if another method of contraception has failed, such as if you have forgotten to take one of your contraceptive pills.
“However, the emergency contraceptive pill does not protect against sexually transmitted infections. Pharmacists provide free accessible advice about contraception but we would always urge people to use a condom, particularly with a new partner, as it offers the greatest protection.”
That sounds about right. I'd just add, though, that the key word above would be "particularly with a new partner."
Few young single people have "Jersey Shore" style lifestyles where they're prepared at every moment to be ready to fall into bed with someone new. Instead, most young single people, women as much as men, tend to go through sexual "boom and bust" relationships. And for people for whom hormonal contraception is an option (obviously only women so far, darn it) it often doesn't feel worth the hassle and often the discomfort of staying on a medication you may expect to need only a few times a year.
To that extent that most women who report using emergency contraception as their "primary contraceptive" are almost all still using it only once a year we're not necessarily talking about a giant epidemic of "irresponsibility" here. Nor, I would add, does that suggest epidemics of "promiscuity" either. Unless by promiscuity you mean "once last year."
The EC/STI connection is a little more problematic. First of the STI question seems to have been about lifetime experience with STIs whereas the rest of the survey reports about annual experience with contraception. I mention this only to tidy up the numbers, not to minimize the actual risk. Second, by focusing on the EC angle the story almost necessarily underplays the story of very large numbers of people using no protection for first-time sex.
Proposal: I know it sounds counterintuitive but I think it occurs to me it might be a very good idea to encourage manufacturers and/or pharmacists to include a condom in every package of EC. It's counterintuitive because one tends to view EC as something you take after the fact. And indeed it is.
EC is not, however, always purchased after the fact. I expect it's a lot easier to remember that if you've already Backed Up Your Birth Control it might be easier to remember you've also got at least one backup condom. And even if not? Well, you've still got a condom for next time. Even if, as those survey numbers suggest, next time also happens to be next year. And one way or other, knowing there's a condom in the box "puts the idea into consciousness" as the new-agers say.
Extra credit if the condoms have the retro-20th-Century "for prevention of disease only" motif!
