No such thing as an easy (or EC) fix

摘要

A decade ago, emergency contraception (EC) captured the imagination of the reproductive health world. Here, we thought, was an "easy fix" that would revolutionize our age-old relationship with unprotected sex and unintended pregnancies. Initial projections of widespread use of EC included dramatic reductions in the need for abortion services . Public health campaigns dedicated to allowing over-the-counter access to EC have rallied large numbers of grass-roots activists. Unfortunately, the return on this investment of time, energy and money has been disappointing. Multiple randomized clinical trials have been conducted in an effort to demonstrate that increasing access to emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) can reduce rates of unintended pregnancy or abortion, but to date, none of the interventions tested has had a significant effect on rates of either pregnancy or abortion.