IUD users have fewer repeat abortions: study

By Eric Schultz • Reuters Health

Giving women free access to long-term birth control after they've had an abortion may help them avoid a second one, New Zealand researchers suggest.

Of 510 women who'd been offered contraceptives free of charge at an abortion clinic, less than six percent of those who went on to use an intrauterine device, or IUD, ended up having another abortion within two years.

Among those women who said they were taking birth control pills, 13 percent had a repeat abortion. For condom users, the number was 17 percent.

The results suggest long-acting birth control methods should be promoted to women following an abortion, according to the researchers.

"In the United States, widespread access to IUDs has been hampered by barriers including costs, lack of provider training, and misconceptions held by both patients and providers," Sally Rose and Dr. Beverley Lawton of the University of Otago in Wellington write in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

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