12:11AM EDT October 18. 2012 – The birth control pill and sterilization are still the most common forms of contraception, but new federal data released Thursday show that long-acting methods are gaining ground while condom use for birth control is declining.
The report from the National Center for Health Statistics is based on data from a national sample of 12,279 women ages 15-44 in 2006–2010 compared with a sample of 10,847 women those ages in 1995. Findings show that sterilization and the pill were used by either 27% or 28% of women in both sets of data, (28% in 1995 and 27% in 2006-10 for sterilization and 27% in 1995 and 28% in 2006-10 for the pill), but condoms as the most effective method of birth control declined from 20% to 16%. That decline was offset by a 75% increase in the use of other hormonal methods such as the patch or ring (from 4% to 7%) and a sevenfold increase (0.8% to 5.6%) in the intrauterine device (IUD). Such methods are among those deemed “long-acting” since they do not require daily or weekly attention. Read full article.
