Manufacturers and distributers are reluctant to apply to the FDA to relabel existing drugs or devices because they fear backlash from anti-abortion groups, who object to their use to prevent implantation, according to the authors. Public awareness of emergency contraception is poor, and the functional distinction between emergency contraception and the action of abortifacient drugs is lost, the authors say. Timing is also a significant factor, according to the authors. To be effective, drugs used as emergency contraception must be begun within 48 to 72 hours after unprotected sex, depending on the drug. Similarly, an IUD must be inserted within five to seven days after unprotected sex.
Women often lack sufficiently rapid access to clinical services.
The authors cite as typical the example of the woman who calls her doctor's office the morning after a contraceptive failure, unsure what options may be available, but who is told by a receptionist that there is nothing to do but await her period. By the time the woman actually sees her clinician, emergency contraception is no longer an option. The book represents our attempt to give women the practical information they need to take control, both of the particular situation in which there is a need for emergency contraception, and of their reproductive rights more broadly. In a forthcoming article in the journal Fertility Control Reviews, Trussell and former Princeton graduate student Charlotte Ellertson estimate that postcoital insertion of a copper-T IUD reduces the risk of pregnancy by more than 99 percent. Similarly, of 1.6 million induced abortions, 0.8 million could be prevented.