Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About...
Impact of Emergency Contraception
Unintended Pregnancy in the United States
Unintended pregnancy – the term researchers
use to describe getting pregnant when you aren’t trying to have
a baby – is a significant problem in the United States today.
Despite the many types
of birth control available, the United States still has a far
higher of unintended pregnancy than most other industrialized countries.
The 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, supplemented by data from
other sources, provides the latest information on unintended pregnancy,
which affects one in every 20 women in the United States each year.
- 49% of all pregnancies are unintended
- 3.1 million unintended pregnancies occurred in 2001
- 44% of unintended pregnancies resulted in births, 42% ended in abortion, and 14% were miscarriages
- 48% of women with an unintended pregnancy said they were using birth control during the month they got pregnant
- 40% of women with an unintended pregnancy who gave birth were using contraception when they got pregnant, compared with 54% of women with unintended pregnancies who had abortions.
Source:
Finer LB and SK Henshaw. Disparities in Rates of Unintended Pregnancy
in the United States, 1994 and 2001. Perspectives on Sexual and
Reproductive Health 2006;38(2):90-96.