Tag: contraception

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Switching Contraceptives Effectively

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The United States has one of the highest rates of unwanted pregnancies in the developed world — nearly half of pregnancies here are unintended, and there’s been no improvement in the situation for a decade.

Why? For one thing, women often encounter problems when the birth-control method they had been using no longer works well for them. Many women and their doctors are poorly versed in the wide array of effective choices and how to switch from one method to another without risking pregnancy. Read full article.

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Missouri Lawmakers Override Veto of Contraception Bill

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JEFFERSON CITY, MO. — Missouri lawmakers enacted new religious exemptions from insurance coverage of birth control Wednesday, overriding a gubernatorial veto and delivering a political rebuke to an Obama administration policy requiring insurers to cover contraception.

Although Missouri and 20 other states already had some sort of exemption from contraceptive coverage, Missouri’s newly expanded law appears to be the first in the nation directly rebutting the federal contraception mandate, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and supporters of the law.

Republican legislative leaders barely met the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto by Gov. Jay Nixon. They got help from a few of Nixon’s fellow Democrats and ultimately persuaded one particular Republican lawmaker who had opposed the measure to support the override. Read full article.

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Wheaton College lawsuit dismissed

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A federal judge has dismissed Wheaton College’s lawsuit against the Obama administration for requiring the evangelical Christian college to offer health insurance that covers the cost of contraception, including the morning-after pill, for employees.

The judge’s decision comes just two weeks after the west suburban college was granted an additional year to meet the requirement. Read full article.

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Birth Control Myths and Misconceptions

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The London Summit on Family Planning held in July marked a commitment by Melinda Gates to improve access to affordable contraception in the world’s poorest countries by 2020. Some of these countries are on our doorstep. In Papua New Guinea only one in five women uses a modern method of contraception compared to almost three quarters of Australian women.

I have seen the challenges of providing effective contraception in Papua New Guinea first-hand. Just over four years ago I was lucky enough to visit the very beautiful and remote Highlands and was naively delighted to come across a village health centre well supplied with boxes and boxes of female condoms. The female condom is useful not just for contraception but also to prevent sexually transmissible infections. A combination of myths, misunderstandings and a simple lack of information meant they ended up being used for an altogether different purpose. The female condom is, I discovered, a very neat way to catch small fish! 

This is an extreme example but misconceptions and myths about contraception not only happen in Port Moresby but also in Port Macquarie, Sydney and Dubbo. Some of the more common myths in the field of contraception relate to its effect on future fertility, the risk of cancer and its effect on body weight. I was recently asked whether contraceptive implants can migrate from the arm to some distant part of the body resulting in infertility later on. The short answer is: no. The contraceptive implant, a 4-centimetre flexible rod, is inserted just under the skin of the upper inner arm where it stays in place for up to three years and can be readily located and removed when required.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/birth-control-myths-and-misconceptions-20120829-250gx.html#ixzz25AZkn2nx

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The Awkward History of Americans Talking About Contraception

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The ACLU announced earlier this week that a California school district is being sued by parents and students over its abstinence-only sex education program. Among other affronts to the concept of comprehensive sex education, the program’s textbooks never once mention condoms — not even in the chapters on protecting oneself from STIs and unintended pregnancy. If the program is forced to introduce contraception into their literature, they can look to a long, awkward history of trying to figure out how to do it. Read full article.

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Antibiotics: Do They Affect Contraceptives

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NPS MedicineWise has released information for consumers about taking antibiotics when also using hormonal contraceptives, explaining that there are only two antibiotics that affect how hormonal contraceptives work.

There are many misconceptions regarding the impact of antibiotics in our bodies, says NPS MedicineWise clinical adviser Dr Philippa Binns.

“While it’s important to always be careful with medicines to avoid mishaps, it’s also wise to separate the fact from fiction,” she says.

“Not all antibiotics interfere with how well hormonal contraceptives work. However there are exceptions, so it’s important for women to always check whether their antibiotic may have an impact.”

Women using hormonal contraception are encouraged to get advice from their doctor or pharmacist so they’re reassured about the need to take precautions if prescribed an antibiotic.

“Many women who use hormonal contraceptive methods often express concern that antibiotics may jeopardise their effectiveness,” says Dr Binns.

“In fact, there are only two antibiotics which are thought to affect how well some hormonal contraceptives work.” Read full article.

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Links Between Disruptive Life Events, Poverty and Contraceptive Use

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The researchers, from the Guttmacher Institute in New York, base their findings on feedback data from almost 9,500 women who had an abortion in 2008 (Abortion Patient Survey), in the light of 11 “disruptive” events, and the links between these, poverty, and contraceptive use.

The disruptive events included job loss, separation, falling behind on rental/mortgage payments, death of a close friend, a serious health problem, a partner being sent to prison and becoming a victim of crime.

Poverty in the US is defined as an annual income before tax of $17,500 for a family of three: in 2008, 13% of US residents met this criterion.

The researchers also carried out in-depth interviews with 49 women seeking abortions to flesh out themes from the feedback data.

Their analysis showed that more than half (57%) of the women who had had an abortion had faced a major life stressor in the preceding year. One in 5 had lost their jobs; one in 6 had separated from their partner; one in 7 had fallen behind on their rental or mortgage payments, while one in 8 had moved several times.

One in 10 had experienced the death of a close friend or had had a baby over the past year. And 7% had been subjected to some form of domestic violence.

Women said that the fall-out from one disruptive event could set up a chain reaction. For example, one woman’s grief following the death of her mother kept her from leaving an abusive partner. Read full article.

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Canadian Doctors Want Ottawa to Pay for Birth Control

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Doctors at the Canadian Medical Association’s annual general meeting voted today in support of a motion asking the federal government to pay for birth control.

About 70 per cent of the eligible voters supported the motion on Wednesday in Yellowknife.

Dr. Sarah Cook, a family doctor in Yellowknife who introduced the motion, said teen pregnancy in the Northwest Territories is almost three times higher than the national average.

She said birth control is not accessible enough for many women.

“There are many women that don’t have access to employer benefits and who are not covered by NIHB [non-insured health benefits for First Nations and Inuit] here who do not have treaty cards that would be able to access that, so I see that very frequently,” said Cook.

Even if it is accessible, it’s often costly. Some methods, such as a hormonal IUD (intrauterine device) can cost almost $500. Cook said she sees cost barriers to contraception every day.

Dr. Ewen Affleck, also of Yellowknife, supported Cook, arguing that unwanted pregnancies are more expensive than birth control. Read full article.

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Finally, the Promise of Male Birth Control in a Pill: Compound Makes Mice Reversibly Infertile

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ScienceDaily (Aug. 16, 2012) — Researchers have finally found a compound that may offer the first effective and hormone-free birth control pill for men. The study in the August 17th Cell, a Cell Press publication, shows that the small molecule makes male mice reversibly infertile without putting a damper on their sex drive. When the animals stop taking this new form of birth control, their sperm rebound and they are again able to sire perfectly healthy offspring.

“This compound produces a rapid and reversible decrease in sperm count and motility with profound effects on fertility,” said James Bradner of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the lead author of the study.

A male birth control pill hasn’t been easy to come by in large part because of the challenge of getting any drug across the blood:testis barrier, where it can reach the sperm-generating cells. That lack of contraceptive alternatives for men is partially responsible for the high rate of unplanned pregnancies. Despite the unsatisfactory options for male contraception, nearly one-third of couples rely on male-directed birth control methods. Read full article.