This undated image made available by Teva Women's Health shows the packaging for their Plan B One-Step (levonorgestrel) tablet, one of the brands known as the "morning-after pill." About 1 in 9 younger women who've had sex have taken the morning-after pill, according to the first government report to focus on use of emergency contraception since it was approved in 1998. At least five versions of the morning-after pills are sold in the United States. The results of the study were released Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (AP Photo/Teva Women's Health)
About 11 percent of Latinas between the ages of 15 and 44 have used the morning-after pill after sex, according to the first government report to focus on emergency contraception since its approval 15 years ago.
The results come from a survey of females ages 15 to 44 released Thursday by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, 11 percent of the women surveyed (the same percent as in the Latinas subgroup) reported using the contraception pill after sex at least once.
This number is up from 4 percent in 2002, only a few years after the pill went on the market and adults still needed a prescription.
The increased popularity is attributed to wider access to the pill and to media coverage of the efforts to lift the age limit for over-the-counter sales. A prescription is still required for those younger than 17.
In the study, 59 percent of Latinas who used the pills said they did because they'd had unprotected sex. Most of the rest cited a broken condom or worries that the birth control method they used had failed.
While Latinos are using emergency contraception, it is white and more educated women who use it the most, the research showed. That's not surprising, said James Trussell, a Princeton University researcher who's studied the subject.
"I don't think you can go to college in the United States and not know about emergency contraception," said Trussell, who has promoted its use and started a hot line.
One Pennsylvania college even has a vending machine dispensing the pills.
The morning-after pill is basically a high-dose version of birth control pills. It prevents ovulation and needs to be taken within a few days after sex. However the morning-after pill is different from the so-called abortion pill, which is designed to terminate a pregnancy.
At least five versions of the morning-after pills are sold in the United States. They cost around $35 to $60 a dose at a pharmacy, depending on the brand.
Since it is sold over-the-counter, insurers generally only pay for it with a doctor's prescription. The new Affordable Care Act promises to cover morning-after pills, meaning no co-pays, but again only with a prescription.
The results of the study were released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's based on in-person interviews of more than 12,000 women in 2006 through 2010. It was the agency's first in-depth report on that issue, said Kimberly Daniels, the study's lead author.
A woman who uses emergency contraception multiple times "needs to be thinking about a more regular form" of birth control, noted Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research for the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group that does research on reproductive health.
Also on Thursday, the CDC released a report on overall contraception use. Among its many findings, 99 percent of women who've had sex used some sort of birth control. That includes 82 percent who used birth control pills and 93 percent whose partner had used a condom.
Based on reporting by The Associated Press.
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