Straight from the “no shit” department: Counseling clients at family planning clinics about the proven effectiveness of contraceptive methods results in more clients choosing more effective methods, and in turn, reducing unintended pregnancy. Fancy that!
A study published today in The Lancet shows what happens when you provide training on effectiveness-based contraception counseling — which includes discussion of long-acting reversible contraceptives such as the IUD and hormonal implant, the most effective forms of birth control — to 20 Planned Parenthood clinics. After monitoring these clinics (and another 20 that did not receive the training), the study authors found a significant difference in contraception choices made.
From The Atlantic:
The results were striking: 71 percent of the providers who received the training discussed IUDs and implants with their patients, but just 39 percent of those in the control group did so.
In the intervention group, 28 percent of women ended up choosing IUDs or implants, compared with 17 percent in the control group. Among women who had gone to the Planned Parenthood for family-planning services, the effectiveness counseling reduced the rate of unintended pregnancies by half over the course of a year.
So — talk to women about birth control based on what actually, really, truly works, and they will choose birth control that actually, really, truly keeps them from getting pregnant when they don’t want to be.
The next step, obviously, is making said birth control more accessible. Baby steps — or should we say, no-baby steps.
