Background: Using a large national survey of women undergoing an abortion in France, we explore their contraceptive use surrounding an abortion.
Study design: The study comprised a representative sample of 7541 women undergoing an abortion in 2007. We compared their use of contraception before and after the abortion and examined the factors associated with the prescription of a very effective method (IUD, hormonal methods) after the procedure.
Results: Sixty-six percent of women were using contraception in the month they conceived. A third of women reported the same use of contraception before and after the abortion, 54% were prescribed a more effective method, while 14% changed to a less effective or no method at all. After the abortion, 77% of women were prescribed a very effective contraceptive.
Conclusions: Abortion offers an opportunity to improve contraceptive uptake and a chance for providers to adjust their prescriptions according to the difficulties women experience in their use of contraceptives.
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