To evaluate the acceptability of emergency contraception among young women, Dr. Corinne H. Rocca, from the University of California, San Francisco and colleagues analyzed survey data from 1950 subjects who participated in a trial assessing emergency contraception access through advanced provision, pharmacies, or clinics.

The results show that 92% of the women believed emergency contraception to be safe and 98% considered it effective, according to the report in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology for January.

Compared with women who had clinic access to emergency contraception, those with direct pharmacy access did not rate it as being more convenient and were no more likely to use emergency contraception promptly. By contrast, women provided with a dose in advance of need did rate this as being highly convenient and were more likely than the other groups to use emergency contraception promptly.

Overall, 14% of the participants reported not using emergency contraception when they thought there might be a need. The main reasons cited were inconvenience and fear of adverse effects, the report indicates.

"These findings underscore the importance of convenient access to the effective use of emergency contraception," Dr. Rocca and colleagues conclude.

"Although greater availability of emergency contraception through over-the-counter access could alleviate barriers to use for some women," they add, "promotion of advance provision will be imperative to improving access and use."

Am J Obstet Gynecol 2007;196:29.e1-29.e6.

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