Boosted by increased use among women in their early 20s, usage of the morning-after pill in the United States has more than doubled since the last time a study was done.
Back in 2002, only 4 percent of women had used the pill. During the last six years, that number increased to 11 percent of all sexually active U.S. women. As the ages get younger, the numbers get higher; almost 25 percent of women between the ages of 20 and 24 have used it at one point or another.
The study was organized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was conducted between the years 2006 and 2012. The results were released on Thursday, Feb. 14.
According to an Associated Press story, about 50 percent of those who used the pill said it was because they engaged in unprotected sex. The other half said they resorted to the morning-after medication because a condom broke or because they feared that whatever protection they did use wasn't enough.
About 59 percent of women said they used the pill only one time, while another 24 percent said they used it twice. Repeated users of the pill (three times or more) accounted for about 17 percent.
In a separate study focused on general contraception use, also released Thursday, the CDC found that of the women between the ages of 15 and 44, about 99 percent of them had used some form of birth control. Among Catholics, too, the number was extremely similar: 98.6 percent have used birth control at some point. Neither data point included information regarding the percentage of women currently using birth control.
Some may point to the rise of birth control as another sign of our culture's growing leniency towards sex, but another reason usage is up is because pills and condoms are even easier to obtain than before. While girls under 17 still need a prescription to receive the pill, access to women older than that has become more widespread. The passage of Obamacare (The Affordable Care Act) also signals a future in which the pills will be easier to obtain, as the law mandates that most insurance companies (outside those affiliated with religious institutions) cover the cost of birth control.
