A new study from the CDC reveals that the number of women ages 15 to 44 using “long-acting reversible contraception” like IUDs is still low, but has greatly increased in recent years.
Using LARC’s was doubly as common among women ages 25-34 than women younger or older than that age range, which makes sense – that age range is the sweet spot for women who are sexually active but aren’t quite sure if they want to have children yet. (Conversely, many more women ages 35-44 had opted for sterilization than women below that age range.) The IUD is also one of the most effective (and cost-effective) forms of birth control, news that appears to be slowly but surely sweeping the nation.
But the pill is still the most common use of contraception:
In 2011–2013, 61.7% of the 60.9 million women aged 15–44 in the United States were currently using contraception. The most common contraceptive methods currently being used were the pill (16.0%), female sterilization (15.5%), male condoms (9.4%), and long-acting reversible contraceptives (7.2%).
Though pill use was drastically more common the more education a woman had: “One in 5 women (21.5%) with a bachelor’s degree or higher was using the pill. Fewer than 1 woman in 20 (3.6%) without a high school diploma or GED was using the pill.”
38 percent of women were not using contraception; 19 percent of those women were not having sex or had never had sex.
Image via flocu/Shutterstock
