Free contraception leads to far fewer abortions

St. Louis – In a study reproductive experts say foreshadows the likely impact of free contraceptive methods under Obamacare, a medical journal published a study that concludes abortions could be prevented in 79 to 137 women per thousand.

According to an article published by Dr. Jeffrey Piepert and colleagues in “Obstetrics and Gynecology,” (click) a study conducted from 2007 to 2011 of 8,445 sexually active women – some as young as 14 – in the St. Louis area showed that compared to 13.4 to 17 abortions per 1,000 women in the greater St. Louis area, only 4.4 to 7.5 per 1,000 in the study group resorted to abortion to terminate unwanted pregnancy when given access to free methods of contraception.

In fact, when cost is no object, most flocked to the higher-priced methods of intrauterine devices and subdermal implants, which have been found to be much more effective than contraceptive hormonal pills.

In an earlier study published in the May issue of the “New EnglandJournal of Medicine,” (click) Dr. Piepert concluded that “Half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, and half of those result from contraceptive failure...If more women used the highly effective, long-acting reversible methods, we would expect a decrease in the number of unintended pregnancies, because there would be more women continuing to use contraception.”