Why are young men clueless about emergency contraception?

Young men are clueless about emergency contraception which is limiting access to an effective means of preventing unwanted pregnancies, researchers say. The big finding in our study is that young men had a lot less knowledge about emergency contraception than the young women that we surveyed, and even among the young women, knowledge wasn’t great, Sheree Schrager, a member of the study team, told Reuters Health.

About half of the women understood basic facts about emergency contraception, how you get it, how you use it, and the fact that male partners were also able to buy it over-the-counter for their female partners,’ added Schrager, a researcher at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, California. ‘But young men had significantly lower knowledge then the young women did, and this is an opportunity for providers to reach out to young men in the hopes of reaching more young women to use emergency contraception,’ she said. According to researchers, unwanted pregnancies are higher in poorer communities and their health and economic consequences may be greater, the researchers write in The Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care. Gallery – know your contraception

To gauge how much older teens and young adults know about emergency contraception, the researchers enrolled 101 males and 97 females ages 18 to 25 into the study during 2008 and 2009. The participants were either patients at a free health care clinic in Los Angeles or had received physical screenings as part of their training for the Los Angeles Job Corps. About 36 per cent of sexually experienced young women had used emergency contraception previously, while 18 per cent of the sexually experienced males had partners who had used it.

Birth control pill

Birth control or oral contraceptive pills is a reliable method of contraception and works by suppressing ovulation – the release of an egg from the ovary. Contraceptive pills are classified depending on their composition. In India, there are two types of pills available.

Combined pills: Contains a combination of oestrogen and progestin. These are the synthetic form of the same hormones present in the female body. These pills are also useful in reducing the intensity of menstrual discomfort. Another type of pill available is the Mini Pill. They contain only progesterone, they are milder in action and have lesser side-effects. If used correctly and consistently, the pill is projected to be about 99.7 to 99.9 % effective in preventing pregnancy. The failure rate of hormonal methods of contraception, including the pill is usually lower than non-hormonal methods such as condoms and intrauterine devices.

Pros and cons: When taken correctly, regular and emergency pills work most of the time. However, they can also cause problems and it’s believed they can cause weight gain, decrease libido and cause other problems since they alter a woman’s hormonal levels. It’s also important to remember that unlike the barrier method, pills do not prevent the transmission of HIV and other STDs.