Many people, for example, aren't aware that emergency contraception exists. Only 1 percent of women have ever used it. Among those who know of morning-after pills, only 5 percent got the information from a health professional. That has to change, and the OB-GYN group is right to ask physicians to take the lead. Most women are reluctant to discuss their sex lives, even in the gynecologist's office, unless there's a problem that can't be ignored.
Many physicians are skittish, too, even as they conduct the most intimate physical examinations.
This falls under the rubric of preventive health care. Morning-after pills are not effective if a woman is already pregnant. They do not cause abortion. They work like birth control pills. There are two types of emergency pills the combined oral contraceptives that contain the hormones estrogen and progestin, and pills of progestin alone.