The attitude towards emergency contraception in women having legal abortion

The attitude towards emergency contraception in women having legal

abortion

C. Vasiliu, D. Protopopescu, M. Carstoiu, A. Zguri, V. Horhoianu

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Emergency Hospital

Bucharest, Romania

Introduction: Despite the fact that it was introduced in practice some

decades ago, emmergency contraception remains an insufficiently known and used

method of contraception. Its advantages and indications are unknown for the

majority of population in our country.

Aims and methods: Our prospective study tries to asses the attitude

towards emmergency contraception of women having a legal abortion. For this

purpose we used a questionnaire study applied to 107 women attending our clinic

for legal abortion.

Results: Most of the patients were under 30 years old (68%),

represented urban population (66%) with low instruction level, had at least one

child (70%) and one legal abortion (90%) in antecedents and have used a

contraceptive method in the past (68%). Only 29 of the 107 women interviewed

(27%) were informed about the existence of emmergency contraception and only 3

of them had successfully used the method. The 26 remaining didnt use the method

because they were informed to late or incorrectly about the method. The main

sourse of information were other women and not the mass-media or the medical

personnel. Asked if they would use such a method, 78 (73%) were affirmative. The

causes of the underuse of emmergency contraception are: few women are aware of

it, few doctors and nurses inform the patients about it, most of the information

received from other patients are incorrect, the information in mass-media are

insufficient.

Conclusions: The emmergency contraception is a method highly

acceptable among women having legal abortion, but underused because of the luck

of information about it.

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