Results tagged “pregnancy prevention” from Pregnant Pause
Feb 25 2009
Magical Thinking
Why are so many young women still getting pregnant when they didn't intend to? Is it that they don't know enough about how pregnancy happens? Or how to use birth control? Or, are they using birth control sometimes, and thinking that's as good as using it every time? Or that they want to know more but are too embarassed to ask? Or that it just won't happen to them? Turns out, the answer is all of the above, and more.
Check out this great article in the current issue of Self Magazine: "Single, Pregnant and Panicked."
It includes findings from some Campaign polling and focus groups that shed light on what single 20-somethings really think—and what they still don't know—about pregnancy and birth control. The findings are pretty shocking.
Check out the full survey.
Here's some of what we learned:
- 54% of sexually active (but not monogamous) single 20-somethings don't use birth control every time.
- While nearly half of our survey respondents said they don't look for information about preventing pregnancy because they already know enough about it, we found that 50% of those women surveyed don't know at what point in their cycle they are most likely to get pregnant, and 23% of women we surveyed think that taking birth control pills increases the risk of getting all types of cancers (NOT true!).
- 21% said finding the right source of information on pregnancy prevention is too hard.
- 21% of young adult women said they don't seek out information about birth control and pregnancy prevention because it's too embarrassing to talk about.
- 67% of our respondents (male and female) say they know nothing about IUDs, which the medical community considers the most effective form of long-acting contraception.
- 16% of young adult men say they only use contraception if their partners insist on it.
Many who are taking chances with their birth control say that if pregnancy hasn't happened yet, it probably won't...that's the most magical thinking of all.
Go to self.com to read the article and take the pregnancy quiz that nearly 1,000 women have already failed. And don't forget to tell us what you think.
