[Comment: Note this quote from the article: “According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, about 9% of women using the pill, patch, or ring for three years will get pregnant.” (emphasis added)
The article is titled “Effectiveness of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception” [N Engl J Med 2012; 366:1998-2007, May 24, 2012, http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1110855 ]
But if you read the actual study, the study’s statistics are even worse: “Annual failure rates with typical use of oral contraceptive pills are estimated at 9% for the general population, 13% for teenagers, and 30% or higher for some high-risk subgroups.” (emphasis added)
With these rates and school sex education programs promoting the Pill, Planned Parenthood becomes a self-perpetuating abortion industry.
[Ed. The abortion industry has been aware of these failure rates since at least the 1960s.]
The article’s point is this quote: “The emphasis on long-acting contraception, like intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, is important because the devices are permanent and last for years” and claims “the same NEJM study found that about 2% of women using an IUD for three years got pregnant.” (emphasis added)
Unmentioned is the potential for the longer-acting contraceptive to hide an infertility issue when such contraceptives are used for years. [Ed. or the increased risk of various cancers, or the effects of artificial estrogen in the environment, or the abortifacient potential of IUDs and chemical ‘contraceptives’…]
As far as longer-acting contraceptives like the IUDs and implants, problems like cost and side effects such as pain, bleeding, etc. have led almost 1 out of 4 women to stop using them according to a 2013 medical journal article. (“Satisfaction, early removal, and side effects associated with long-acting reversible contraception”. Fam Med. 2013 Nov-Dec;45(10):701-7. Online at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24347187 )
Years ago, I was pressured about placing my minor daughters on artificial contraception but I refused. I am glad I did. N. Valko RN]
[Ed. While the article below is very complimentary to birth control, the very first paragraph of the NEJM study, the Background, reads: “The rate of unintended pregnancy in the United States is much higher than in other developed nations. Approximately half of unintended pregnancies are due to contraceptive failure, largely owing to inconsistent or incorrect use.”
The Methods section explains that: “Participants were provided with reversible contraception of their choice at no cost. We compared the rate of failure of long-acting reversible contraception (intrauterine devices [IUDs] and implants) with other commonly prescribed contraceptive methods (oral contraceptive pills, transdermal patch, contraceptive vaginal ring, and depot medroxyprogesterone acetate [DMPA] injection) in the overall cohort and in groups stratified according to age (less than 21 years of age vs. 21 years or older).”]
Here’s What Happened When Colorado Offered Free Birth Control
Birth control works, and some forms work better than others.
It’s hard to come to any other conclusion after reading the crazy statistics coming out of Colorado, which just emerged from a public health experiment which consisted of giving more than 30,000 women free, long-acting birth control at health clinics throughout the state over a period of six years.
Between 2009 and 2015, “teen births dropped 40 percent, abortions fell 35 percent and the state avoided more than $80 million in Medicaid costs,” according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s website.
The New York Times reports that the changes “were particularly pronounced in the poorest areas of the state, places like Walsenburg, a small city in Southern Colorado where jobs are scarce and unplanned births come often to the young.”
This parallels a secular decline in the teen birth rate throughout the country. However, the Times reports that “experts say the timing and magnitude of the reductions in Colorado are a strong indication that the state’s program was a major driver. About one-fifth of women ages 18 to 44 in Colorado now use a long-acting method, a substantial increase driven largely by teenagers and poor women.”
The emphasis on long-acting contraception, like intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, is important because the devices are permanent and last for years.
By comparison, a woman who is taking the pill must take it every single day (at the same time each day) and refill the prescription every month. If she forgets just one day, or can’t pick up her prescription on time one month, she is at risk of getting pregnant.
According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, about 9% of women using the pill, patch, or ring for three years will get pregnant. Further, teenagers are about twice as likely to get pregnant as adults because they so often miss or skip days.
Long-acting solutions, by contrast, don’t require any action once they are inserted by a doctor. They are just there, and they nearly always work — the same NEJM study found that about 2% of women using an IUD for three years got pregnant.
Even as the program is touting its success, though, it’s in danger of collapsing. The Times notes that until now, it has been funded privately by the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (named after Warren Buffett’s late wife). A release on the Colorado Department of Public Health’s website says it is searching for new funding.
[Jul 7, 2015, Shane Ferro, Business Insider, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-us-states-public-health-194229416.html ]