Women's Level of Knowledge on and Attitude Towards Emergency Contraception

Objective: To evaluate reproductive agewomen's level of knowledge on and attitude towards emergency contraception. Design: Questionnaire study Setting and participants: 300 women between the ages of 15-49 who applied to two "Mother-Child Health Care and Family Planning Centers" in Ankara and to GaziUniversityHospital Obstetrics and Gynecology Department outpatient clinics were enrolled into the study. Materials-Methods: A questionnaire including questions about descriptive properties, current contraceptive use and level of knowledge on and attitude towards emergency contraception were applied to participants via face-to-face interviews. Results: Among all participants, 102 women (41%) told that it was possible to prevent a probable pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse, 46 women told (18.5%) nothing could be done thereafter and 101 women (40.6%) had no idea about the subject. 83 women (37.9%) had already heard about morning-after pills. 21 women (7%) claimed they had previously needed such a method, and 17 women (5.7%) declared that they had used morning-after pills before. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that our population is in need of emergency contraception but lack enough knowledge. Thus, we think that education about emergency contraception should be rendered available for all women and women should be able to use this important way of contraception whenever they require.