Women's experience and satisfaction with emergency contraception

Context: If any new contraceptive technology is to become a viable option f or decreasing unintended pregnancies, women must be willing to use the meth od and find it acceptable. However, because emergency contraceptive pills h ave not been widely used, very little is known about this method's acceptab ility Methods: Telephone interviews were conducted with 235 women who had receive d emergency contraceptive pills through a demonstration project at 13 Kaise r Permanente medical offices in San Diego to assess women's experience and satisfaction with the pills. Results: More than two-thirds of the women (70%) were using a contraceptive method prior to their need for emergency contraception, and 73% of these u sers were relying on condoms. When asked about the situation that led to un protected intercourse, 45% reported that their condom broke or slipped, whi le 23% said they had had unplanned sex. More than three-quarters of the sam ple (81%) experienced at least one side effect The overwhelming majority we re satisfied with emergency contraceptive pills (91%) and would recommend t hem to friends and family members (97%). Just one-quarter of the sample (28 %) believed that emergency contraceptive pills should be dispensed over the counter, and an even lower proportion agreed that they should be available from vending machines (6%). Conclusions: Because women were overwhelmingly accepting of emergency contr aceptive pills, found them easy to use and did not intend to substitute the m for regular contraceptive use, this new method is an important addition t o the contraceptive options available to women, providing a way to prevent pregnancy after unprotected intercourse or method failure.