The share of American ladies who say they’ve ever used emergency contraception after having intercourse has greater than doubled because the so-called ”morning after” or Plan B model drugs have been accepted to be bought with out a prescription, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention reported Thursday.
The rise is amongst dozens of developments tracked in two experiences now launched from the CDC’s Nationwide Survey of Household Development, inspecting survey outcomes via 2019 on intercourse and contraception amongst teenagers in addition to all ladies ages 15 to 44 years outdated.
Amongst teenagers and grownup ladies who’ve had intercourse, 26.6% advised CDC’s survey via 2019 that they’ve ever turned to the emergency contraception drugs, up from 10.8% in a earlier spherical of the survey from 2006 via 2010.
Amongst feminine teenagers who’ve had intercourse, 22.3% mentioned they’d ever used emergency contraception, up from 13.7% via 2010.
Whereas emergency contraception drugs have been accepted by the Meals and Drug Administration since 1998, the primary choices to purchase them over-the-counter with out going via a physician weren’t greenlighted by the company till 2006.
One other kind of emergency contraception can also be accessible that depends on having a medical supplier insert an intrauterine system, or IUD, inside 5 days after intercourse. Although much less handy than the over-the-counter drugs, the CDC says that choice is taken into account ”extremely efficient.”
Emergency contraception stays much less widespread than different types of contraception.
Essentially the most generally reported strategy stays utilizing a condom with a accomplice, at 94.5%, and 79.8% of ladies mentioned they’d used contraception drugs.
Fewer teenagers say they’ve had intercourse
The CDC’s survey discovered that 38.7% of male teenagers say they’ve ever had intercourse. That’s down from the findings via 2010, when 41.8% of male teenagers mentioned they’d ever had intercourse. The speed was lowest amongst White teen males, at 33.1%.
Amongst male teenagers underneath 18 years outdated, 23.2% say they’ve had intercourse, whereas the quantity climbs to 60.2% by 19 years outdated.
Amongst those that mentioned they’d not had intercourse, probably the most generally chosen cause, picked by 35.3% of all male teenagers, was that they ”have not discovered the proper individual but,” adopted by 26.2% who cited their faith or morals for not having had intercourse.
Against this, the share of feminine teenagers who say they’ve ever had intercourse has inched down by a smaller quantity. About 40.5% say they’ve had intercourse within the newest survey via 2019, down from 42.6% via 2010.
General, 88.0% of ladies ages 15 to 44 years outdated say they’ve ever had intercourse, a determine that’s much like the CDC’s earlier findings.
Amongst male teenagers who’ve had intercourse, the share who say they used contraception through the first time they’d intercourse has elevated.
Condoms stay the most typical technique utilized by male teenagers throughout their first time having intercourse, climbing from 79.6% via 2010 to 84.5% via 2019.
Use of IUDs has tripled since 2010
In ladies ages 15 to 44 years outdated, the CDC’s survey discovered via 2019 that 21.4% of ladies had ever relied on IUDs for contraception.
That’s virtually thrice larger than the 7.7% of ladies who advised the survey via 2010 that they’d relied on this type of long-acting contraception, which is inserted into the uterus by a medical skilled and lasts for years.
A earlier launch of outcomes from the identical survey specializing in present use of contraception had discovered that 10.4% of ladies reported they’d long-acting reversible contraceptives, a class which incorporates IUDs in addition to implants that may be positioned into the arm.
Amongst ladies who had tried however stopped utilizing IUDs, the CDC’s survey discovered 32.8% cited dissatisfaction with the system — not one more reason, like deciding to attempt to have a child — for why they’d it eliminated.
Unwanted side effects from IUDs have been among the many most typical causes cited by 64.4% of ladies who stopped utilizing them. Whereas IUDs rank as probably the most efficient strategies of reversible contraception, sorts of IUDs that use copper could cause cramps and heavier intervals. Other forms of IUDs that use progestin, a hormone additionally utilized in contraception drugs, can generally result in stomach ache.
Each sorts of IUDs additionally carry some much less widespread dangers, the FDA says, together with the potential for a barely larger danger of a sexually transmitted an infection generally known as pelvic inflammatory illness within the preliminary three weeks after they’re inserted.