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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GYNECOLOGY, vol.80, no.2, pp.159-164, 2003 (Journal Indexed in SCI Expanded)
Abstract
Objectives: The purpose of this article is to determine the knowledge status of women concerning postcoital contraception when they turn to curettage in order to terminate an undesired pregnancy. Methods: This defining study has been carried out at a maternity hospital in Izmir on pregnant women admitted for curettage. We interviewed 150 pregnant cases using an improbability sampling method. Results: We discovered that 48.7% of women had avoided pregnancy before curettage by withdrawal before ejaculation. When we investigated the method used after uncontrolled coitus, 27.3% of cases reported vaginal douche while 12.7% indicated curettage. After having an unprotected coitus or failure in contraceptive methods 99.3% of the women indicated they would report to health institutes to utilize postcoital methods if they were familiar with them. Conclusions: Postcoital contraception may be a solution for undesired pregnancies. (C) 2002 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.