OBJECTIVE To estimate cost savings from emergency contraceptive pills in Canada. METHODS We modeled cost savings when a single emergency contraceptive treatment was provided after unprotected intercourse and when women were provided emergency contraceptive pills in advance. RESULTS Each dollar spent on a single treatment saved $1.19--$2.35 (in Canadian currency), depending on the regimen an...

RU-486, or mifepristone, can work as a contraceptive, as an emergency contraceptive, or as an abortifacient. It has the potential to dramatically increase the privacy of procreative choice. For this to happen, RU-486 must fall under the protection of contraception law rather than the law of abortion. Contraception law constitutionally guarantees access to contraception, including emergency cont...

The aim of this audit was to evaluate the effectiveness of a patient group direction (PGD) for nurses issuing the emergency contraceptive Levonelle-2 within a sexual health clinic. The PGD was designed to increase the accessibility of emergency contraception for women, not only minimising the time they needed to spend in the clinic, but also reducing the time at which the emergency contraceptio...

CONTEXT Despite advances related to the provision of emergency contraception in Canada, particularly the granting of independent prescriptive authority to pharmacists in 2000, little is known about the ways in which women perceive potential barriers to using it. METHODS In 2004, an ethnically diverse sample of 52 women living in Greater Vancouver participated in interviews that were analyzed ...

AIMS To identify men's knowledge and attitude to contraception and to determine whether there are differences in those men who have previous experience of termination of pregnancy (TOP) compared to those without experience. METHOD Cross-sectional survey by written questionnaire of male attenders at a genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic. RESULTS In total 999 men, aged 15 to 70 years, complet...

CONTEXT Globally, evidence on knowledge and use of emergency contraception from population-based data is limited, though such information would be helpful in increasing access to the method. We examined knowledge and use of emergency contraception in 45 countries using population-based survey data. METHODS Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data on women aged 15-49 were analyzed by country i...

CONTEXT Since January 2001, women aged over 16 years in the UK have been able to purchase progestogen-only emergency hormonal contraception from pharmacists without prescription. This paper outlines the context in which these changes took place, including contraceptive choices in the UK, changes within the pharmacy profession and political pressures. OBSERVATIONS We chart the multisectoral de...

References 1 McCann M, Potter L. Progestin-only oral contraception: a comprehensive review. Contraception 1994; 50(6): S44–S49. 2 Fabunmi L, Perks N. Caesarean section scar ectopic pregnancy following postcoital contraception. J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2002: 28: 155–156. 3 WHO Task Force on Postovulatory Methods of Fertility Regulation. Randomised controlled trial of levonorgestrel versus ...

I was interested to read the commentary by Anne Szarewksi describing how to individually tailor a woman’s combined oral contraceptive (COC) regimen to minimise the amount of breakthrough bleeding she has to experience each year.1 However, in view of the article on repeat abortion (Das et al.) in the same issue of the journal, should we not be more concerned in preventing pregnancy in COC users?...