CHILDREN BY CHOICE ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED

Contraception & Abortion

Contraception is now easily available, why are there still so many unplanned pregnancies and abortions?

While the prevention of all unplanned pregnancies is desirable, it is unrealistic to expect that all sexually active women will not experience an unplanned pregnancy. Approximately 76% of Australian women use some form of contraception. Studies of Australian and New Zealand women considering abortion have shown that between 40% and 66% women had been using contraception prior to becoming pregnant. The reality is that there are neither perfect contraceptives nor perfect people. Contraception can fail and people sometimes make mistakes or errors of judgement.

Many women may not be able to consistently or effectively use contraception. For instance, they may not be in a position to negotiate contraceptive use with their partner due to being forced or coerced into having sex, or being under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Also, some young and rural and regional women may experience difficulty in accessing contraception from their doctor or pharmacist, due to geographic location, cost, privacy concerns, or doctors refusing to prescribe.

Why does contraception fail?

Condoms are the contraceptive most commonly used by teenagers, however, like all contraception, it can fail, resulting in pregnancies in between 2-15 per 100 women per year. Condoms often fail because they are not used correctly, for example, they are not applied or removed properly. As couples become more familiar with condoms through continued use, the failure rate of this method decreases.

The combined oral contraceptive pill (“the pill”) is a very popular method of contraception. When the pill is used correctly it has a failure rate of less than1%, however, other factors limit its practical effectiveness to between 94% and 95%. Many women are given inadequate advice about the use of the contraceptive pill. Vomiting, diarrhoea, the use of antibiotics and other drugs, such as some types of anti-depressant, and inconsistent doses of Vitamin C can all limit effective absorption of the pill. As well, many women are not made aware of the length of time a ‘backup’ contraceptive method must be used due to missed pills.