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five pregnancies will end in abortion. What is one way that this could be
best thing. Nothing using contraception methods does not mean that you will
have an abortion, but studies have shown that there is a link between the
two. For those people who want to wait to have children, or cannot afford
correlated to the adolescent age group. This is girls from ages 15 to 20.
age group will find out that they are pregnant each year1. Following finding
out they are pregnant, 40% of them will end in abortion2. Teenage
1 Oaklander, Mandy. Teenage Girls Given Choice of Free Contraceptives Get Far Fewer Abortions.
Time.com, October 3, 2014.
2 Whitehead, Kenneth. Do Sex Education and Access to Contraception Cut Down on Abortion?
Catholic Education Resource Center. 2008
pregnancies are at unprecedented levels. More often than not, when these
girls find out they are pregnant, it is a life changer. This is not something
they were planning on. Raising a baby is significant for anyone at any age.
These girls have 70 or so years left to live, and their plans did not include
raising a child. Their plans for the future will be changed forever. To find out
must be determined. One factor is that the stigma of sex itself is becoming
more accepted. Sex is seen as more casual and is not as important as it was
seen in the past. It is for this reason that the need for contraception is
extremely high for adolescents. Adolescents who decide that abortion is the
best option for them are at high risk for another pregnancy and abortion in
the next two years. Out of those adolescents that choose to have an
has found that around 30% of them will end up having to come back for
out how to slow these numbers down. Clearly they did not have the right
information or resources to stop the first one, so what is saying that they will
reported a study that gave girls, who were sexually active, the option to
choose a contraception method of their choice for free. All of the girls chosen
3 Hindin, Michelle J., Maria I. Rodriguez, Lianne Gonsalves, and Lale Say. Adolescent Health Experience
after Abortion or Delivery (AHEAD) Trial: Formative Protocol for Intervention Development to Prevent
Rapid, Repeat Pregnancy. Reproductive Health Reprod Health 12, no. 1 (2015)
for the study had a high risk of unintended pregnancy. Every single one of
contraception methods. After they chose one, they were given counseling
of this study was to find out how many of these girls were able to prevent
pregnancy and in turn, abortions. As a result, the abortion rate with this
group of girls was 76% lower than the general population of girls their age4.
Trends have shown that trends in abortion rates match the teen pregnancy
rate. Four main obstacles that these people face regarding both
contraception and abortion are that they have a lack of knowledge about
their options, are aware of social norms, are misinformed about their options,
The first thing many people think of when someone says the word
contraception is condoms and birth control pills. These are the two that are
the most accessible and widely used. However, in order for these to be
effective, they must be used right and they require repeated and diligent
use. In Sweden and Spain a study was done to determine the effectiveness
rates still continued to increase even after condoms and birth control pills
would have a 2% failure, while birth control pills would have a 0.3% failure.
4 Oaklander, Mandy. Teenage Girls Given Choice of Free Contraceptives Get Far Fewer Abortions.
Time.com, October 3, 2014
However, realistically condoms have an 18% failure and birth control has a
the flip side, long acting reversible contraception methods (LARCs) have a
much lower failure rate and provide solid evidence that they prevent millions
placement of an IUD after they got their first abortion, over 43,000
abortions6. A specific study was done in Iowa from 2007 to 2013 to study the
effects of LARCs. The state gave more money to low income women for
LARCS. Abortion rates fell by 20% during this time period, which means there
were 1,300 fewer abortions each year7. This is also a worldwide issue. In
China, because of their 1 child policy, more women have moved to LARCs
because of the higher rate of effectiveness. By the 5th year of this trend, the
abortion rates were close to 0. (Marston). Spanish women who sought out
abortions in 2007 were asked what type of contraception they were using in
the month before they discovered they were pregnant. 36% reported using
no contraceptive, 40% used condoms, 12% used birth control pills, and less
6 Moore, Ann, Susheela Singh, and Akinrinola Bankole. Do Women and Men Consider Abortion as an
Alternative to Contraception in the United States? An Exploratory Study. Global Public Health 6
(September 2011).
accepted in the United States? The main issue is that LARCs tend to be very
and there is a stigma of fear because of the earlier forms of LARCs. If more
One thing that has been failing when it comes to abortion and
starts with the adolescents. These young teens are not getting educated the
way they need to be. As a result, they turn into adults with little education on
these sensitive and problematic topics. The failure rate of contraception with
programs will help teens make logical decisions when they decide to become
reduce the number of total abortions. It is known that teens would be more
9 Saletan, William. The Best Way to Reduce Abortions Is to Provide Long-Acting Contraception. Slate
Magazine. September 01, 2015
these teens about contraception, they will eventually discontinue the use of
these methods. The people that they trust most with this information is their
parents and healthcare providers. This does not mean that more programs
need to be more open to talk with teens about these options. Also, other
forms of birth control that have the potential to be more effective are not as
widely used because people are not informed about how they are used, their
abortion care. A study was done to find out why LARC options are failing to
be seen. They found that the lack of counseling for the methods, lack of
follow up appointments, safety, and risks are all main factors that have
prevented LARC methods from becoming more mainstream. This proves that
if people are more informed about the different methods, the chances that
One easy way that abortion rates can be cut down is if contraceptives were
made more available to those who need it. People are less likely to do
widely available. They have made it easier for women to legally get their
hands on contraceptive methods. This is paying off because the results can
be seen in their abortion rates. Some of the highest rates of abortion are
easily changed. There is a similar case in Asia. In Asia, abortions are legal,
more widely used, and carry less of a stigma than the United States. As a
result, their abortion rates are much higher than places such as the United
States where the stigma is higher11. The Center for Disease control has even
stated that the reason for the decline in abortions in the past year has been
being increased access to contraception methods. They also found that the
use of LARCs has tripled from 2002 to 2009, which most likely is a direct
correlation with the lower abortion rates12. Given this evidence, people still
11 Marston, Cicely, and John Cleland. Relationships Between Contraception and Abortion: A Review of
the Evidence. Guttmacher Institute. March 1, 2003.
12 Hamby, Yvonne. Is Better Access to Sex Ed and Contraceptive Methods Behind the Latest
Significant Decline in Abortion Rates. Rewire. December 12, 2012.
direct effect on unintended pregnancies and abortions. Getting rid of Planned
Parenthood would only increase the amount of abortions that are completed
each year. Abortions are clearly not the most pleasant things in the world.
government policy wrote, the only thing standing between America and
valid point in the fact that if the United States wants to see any improvement
in the status of the abortion rate, they must adjust their birth control policy.
The United States has been too focused on abstinence rather than focusing
prevent all the side effects of sex. However, asking people to not have sex is
contraception methods. The United States put the Prevention First bill in
place, which expanded family planning and put teen pregnancy prevention
programs on hold.14 This was a valid attempt to prevent pregnancy, but it did
not get to the real problem of teens having sexual relations with each other.
13 Saletan, William. The Best Way to Reduce Abortions Is to Provide Long-Acting Contraception.
Slate Magazine. September 01, 2015.
improved access to healthcare for women and children, and helped them
with childcare.15 This was a step in the right direction for the government. It
attempted to fix the root of the problem at hand and the outcomes of it. Tim
Ryan, and Ohio senator and self-labeled Catholic stated that, we cant run
from the fact that if we do not provide birth control for women, were going
women in the United States have used birth control.16 If more government
officials like Ryan put their heads together, there might be more progress in
Moran stated that we need to lessen the number of abortions that needed
to be done.17 By this, he means that the root of the problem is to find the
root of the problem, so they can start there. Taking away a womans rights is
not solving the problem. Solving the problem is finding a way that these
One easy way to target the problem of abortion is to offer contraception and
education to the women who had just gone through the abortion procedure.
17 Whitehead, Kenneth. Do Sex Education and Access to Contraception Cut Down on Abortion?
Catholic Education Resource Center. 2008
These women are the people that are most at risk for repeat abortions. By
leading them towards effective ways of contraception, it will help lower the
risk of abortions in the future. By contacting the health system for abortion
care, it will be a motivation for higher contraceptive use. These women are
going to want to find any way to help lower their chances of another
abortion. If options are put in front of them, they are more likely to take it.
abortion. In a study, over half of the clinics that were surveyed did not offer
post abortion LARC to any of their patients. Sometimes they did offer
condoms or birth control, but they had to put trust in the patient that they
would actually use them. This leads to more abortions in the long run. The
another unwanted pregnancy. Of the 28% of women who have had abortions
in the past, half of them did not use any type of contraception after their first
higher.
abortion education, the message could not be clearer. In order to prevent the
children. In order for them to live the happy and content life that they long
Works Cited
Bista, Kl, N. Pradhan, and R. Manandhar. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of
Contraception among Women Seeking: Abortion Care Services. Journal of
Institute of Medicine 35, no. 2 (August 2013).
Abortion Prevention. Christian Century 124, no. 24 (November 27, 2007).
Hamby, Yvonne. Is Better Access to Sex Ed and Contraceptive Methods Behind the
Latest Significant Decline in Abortion Rates. Rewire. December 12, 2012.
Hindin, Michelle J., Maria I. Rodriguez, Lianne Gonsalves, and Lale Say. Adolescent
Health Experience after Abortion or Delivery (AHEAD) Trial: Formative Protocol
for Intervention Development to Prevent Rapid, Repeat Pregnancy.
Reproductive Health Reprod Health 12, no. 1 (2015)
Marston, Cicely, and John Cleland. Relationships Between Contraception and
Abortion: A Review of the Evidence. Guttmacher Institute. March 1, 2003.
Moore, Ann, Susheela Singh, and Akinrinola Bankole. Do Women and Men Consider
Abortion as an Alternative to Contraception in the United States? An
Exploratory Study. Global Public Health 6 (September 2011).
Morse, Jessica, Lori Freedman, Joseph Speidel, Kirsten Thompson, Laura Stratton,
and Cynthia Harper. Postabortion Contraception: Qualitative Interviews on
Counseling and Provision of Long Acting Reversible Contraception Methods.
Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health 44, no. 2 (June 2012).
Oaklander, Mandy. Teenage Girls Given Choice of Free Contraceptives Get Far
Fewer Abortions. Time.com, October 3, 2014.
Saletan, William. The Best Way to Reduce Abortions Is to Provide Long-Acting
Contraception. Slate Magazine. September 01, 2015.
Whitehead, Kenneth. Do Sex Education and Access to Contraception Cut Down on
Abortion? Catholic Education Resource Center. 2008