There has been a spike in the number of women using the morning after pill including Latinas. Presently 11 percent of women ages 15 to 44 use emergency contraception, an increase from just four percent in 2002. In a study conducted between 2006-2010, 12,000 women were interviewed by the Center for Disease Control.
Fox News Latino reports, “The results come from a survey of females ages 15 to 44 released … 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.”
Reports of the increase in popularity have been attributed to broader media coverage and increased availability to women. Girls under the age of 17 are still required to have a prescription.
While there has been an increase in the percentage of Latina women using emergency contraception, it is still Caucasian and highly educated women who use the pill the most. “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,” the article said. Over-the-counter costs of the pill range from $35 to $60 per single use dosage.
While percentage of usage is up, according to Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research for the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group that does research on reproductive health, “A woman who uses emergency contraception multiple times needs to be thinking about a more regular form.”