January 7, 2010

9 Important Birth Control Events of the Decade

Filed under: Essure,Family Planning,Mirena,NuvaRing,Obama,plan b,seasonique,STD,Uncategorized — Amanda @ 4:10 pm

In the last century we’ve witnessed extravagant improvements and findings to do with forms of contraception. However, in the last 10 years we’ve continued to experience many more changes to contraception as well. These changes include new forms of contraceptive, an abortion pill, changes in the prices and availability of a variety of birth control methods, and more.

1. In 2006 we were introduced to Seasonique, the extended cycle birth control pill. These pills were made available to women who want to reduce the number of times they had a bleeding period to four times a year. In 2007 Lybrel was approved and was designed to put a complete stop to periods all together. These pills improve the lifestyle of women who suffer from severe menstrual problems.

2. In 2002 a new form of sterilization for women was approved by the FDA. This procedure was designed for women who did not want to undergo surgery. Essure is a surgery-free contraceptive procedure. There are no incisions required – instead, small coil inserts are placed within the fallopian tubes. In 2009, the Essure surgery was publicized when Trista Sutter from the Bachelorette announced she was going to undergo the Essure procedure.

3. In 2007, the Family Planning services received an increase in their funding. This was to provide low income families with family planning services they would be able to afford. The group had been in need of an increase for many years. The 17 million dollar increase helped prevent about 20 million unintended pregnancies. 9 million of these prevented pregnancies would have otherwise been aborted.

4. President Obama was sworn into office on January 20th 2009. His promises for a woman’s right to choose her own reproductive freedoms helped him win the support of many Americans. Polls showed that 91% of Americans strongly favor the use of contraceptives. Obama declared that Roe.V Wade (support of abortion in the US)

“Not only protects womens health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters.”

5. In 2000, the state-of-the-art IUD (Intrauterine Device) Mirena was approved. Because of the IUD’s reputation, the hassle-free Mirena IUD is still continuing to pick up in popularity. Mirena offers women a new combination hormone birth control option. One IUD can prevent pregnancy for up to 5 years and is 99.9% effective making it one of the most effective reversible contraceptive options out there.

6. In 2007, it was reported that teen pregnancy rates were on the rise for the first time in 14 years. In addition, it was also noted that the number of teens with STDs rose to 1 in 4 American teenage women. Read more about teen pregnancy and STD rates here.

7. The “morning after” emergency contraceptive pill took a lot of heat throughout the decade. Even today there is still controversy surrounding the pill. When the Plan B pill became available in the US in 1999, it was not available over the counter or to those over 18 years old. In 2003, the FDA voted for Plan B to be sold without a prescription but it wasn’t until 2006 when the FDA finally approved the sale of Plan B over the counter to those over 18. Plan B was not available to women under 18 until March 2009.

8. In 2001 the Nuvaring was approved. Nuvaring is a flexible ring that releases hormones to protect against pregnancy and inserted into the vagina. The Nuvaring gave women another reversible birth control option and is a perfect alternative to birth control pills.

9. American’s were extra cautious in 2009 when they saw the reality of the recession. Many partners used more contraceptives that in any other year in order to not get pregnant. To them, a baby seemed like another expense. This inflated the birth control sales by up to 10% for OTC products, 6% for condom sales, and a whopping 50-75% increase in the number of vasectomies performed on American men.

Birth Control Buzz is a service company that provides birth control prices, types of birth control(prescription required), health administrative services, and birth control statistics predominantly to US patients seeking to purchase pharmaceuticals on-line. For more information, call 1-866-868-8850 or visit http://www.birthcontrolbuzz.com/.

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April 21, 2007

Emergency Contraception…..

Filed under: birth control,contraceptive,EC,emergency contraception,morning after pill,plan b,sexually transmitted diseases,Uncategorized,unprotected sex — Ashlynn @ 8:30 am

Emergency Contraception Does Not Reduce Unintended Pregnancy Rate

By Taunya English, Associate Editor, April 17, 2007
Health Behavior News Service

The “morning after pill” may be a good option for individual women in crisis, but advance access to emergency contraception is no antidote for the national problem of unintended pregnancy.

Contrary to the fears of critics, the presence of Plan B does not provoke riskier sexual behavior.

According to a new review of studies, women who received an advance supply of birth control pills for emergency contraception had an equal chance of becoming pregnant as women who did not have early access to the pills.

The review draws conclusions from eight studies of more than 6,000 women in the United States, India and China.

Plan B is a well-known brand of emergency contraception pills, but many different types of birth control medication taken at higher doses can prevent pregnancy after sex. Treatment must begin within five days after unprotected sex – and sooner is better when it comes to EC.

“We had expected that easier access to emergency contraception could help women use the pills more quickly when they needed them, and that in turn – since EC is a time-relevant medication – this could help women avoid unintended pregnancy,” said lead reviewer Chelsea Polis.

“Our review is really about the effectiveness of advance provision as a strategy to reduce unintended pregnancy at a population level,” Polis said. “The review is not about the effectiveness of EC; that is a separate matter.”

The review appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates research in all aspects of health care. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing trials on a topic.M

In 2001, about half of pregnancies in the United States were unintended, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now, the United States is working to lower the unintended pregnancy rate to 30 percent by 2010.

Princeton University demographer James Trussell says easier access to emergency contraception will not slow the rate of unintended pregnancy in the United States.

“For individual women, it is definitely a last chance to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex. But it is not going to have a major population impact because people will never use it enough,” he said.

The review found that emergency contraception use was higher among women given an advance supply of the birth control pills, but that increase in use did not translate to a drop in the pregnancy rate.

“Even though advance provision increased use, we don’t know if women were using EC at the times when they were at risk for pregnancy, when it was really needed,” Polis explains.

“If women aren’t going to use Plan B when they are given it for free in a clinical trial and are counseled beforehand about using it every single time they have unprotected sex, then having to go to CVS and having to pay $45 each time – it isn’t going to happen,” Trussell said.

Nonetheless, Polis said her review is not an argument against easier access to emergency contraception.

“Women deserve the chance to protect themselves from unintended pregnancy and EC is a safe, effective way to do that. Emergencies like rape, contraceptive failure and unprotected sex occur, and easier access to EC eliminates a medically unwarranted barrier to taking emergency contraception within the recommended timeframe,” she said. “So steps like making EC available over the counter are still incredibly important.”

When advanced access to emergency contraception was first proposed, critics worried that a medicine cabinet stocked with pills to prevent pregnancy would lead some women to be more promiscuous, have riskier sex or not use condoms.

The Cochrane review counters those concerns.

“We found there was absolutely no difference in sexually transmitted infection rates between the two groups. There’s absolutely no difference in terms of unprotected sex, condom use or changes in use of other contraceptive methods,” Polis said. “So it appears that advance provision of EC has no harmful effects in terms of risky sexual behaviors.”

Polis CB, et al. Advance provision of emergency contraception for pregnancy
prevention. (Review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 2.

BirthControlBuzz is a service company that provides birth control prices, birth control types (prescription required), health administrative services, and birth control statistics predominantly to US patients seeking to purchase birth control on-line.

For more information on types of birth control call 1-866-868-8850 or visit http://www.birthcontrolbuzz.com/.

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