Ch_11

Lecture Notes

Because the potential for getting pregnant is so high for a sexually active, childbearing-age couple, it would seem reasonable that sexually active couples would use contraception to avoid unintended pregnancy. Unfortunately this is not the case. In the United States, nearly half of all pregnancies each year are unintended. And about 4 in 10 of these are terminated by abortion.

Most unintended pregnancies are attributed to nonuse, ambivalence, fear of side effects, inconsistent use or incorrect use of contraceptives. Although on average a woman has only about a 2-4% chance of becoming pregnant during intercourse without the use of a contraceptive, timing and age can influence the likelihood. Over the period of a year, sexually active couples who do not use contraception have a 90% chance of conception.

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