Emergency contraception: why the absent effect on abortion rates?

摘要

In 1995, the first emergency contraception pill was approved in Norway for prescription use only. In October 2000, levonorgestrel was. released for over-the-counter sale in pharmacies. Subsequently, there has been a large increase in sales. Statistics from 1997 show that < 5,000 doses of emergency contraception were sold. As a response to increased access to the pill, the figures rose steeply to almost 70,000 in 2001. This increase has continued, and in 2007, more than 150,000 pills were sold (1). Over this 10-year period, we have witnessed a more than 30-fold increase. A large number of Norwegian women at least buy these pills. A number of studies also show that emergency contraception has a high efficacy (1). Thus, one should expect a large number of unwanted pregnancies to have been prevented among Norwegian women.