Fact v. Fiction
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Emergency Contraception Promotes Promiscuity

What Opponents Say: 

Readily available EC will encourage women to engage in promiscuous sexual behavior because they will not have to face the consequences of an unintended pregnancy.

Reality Check: 

Study from British Medical Journal, 7/2005: “Making emergency hormonal contraception available over the counter does not seem to have led to an increase in its use, to an increase in unprotected sex, or to a decrease in the use of more reliable methods of contraception.”

Studies of women in their teens revealed that there was no difference in sexual behaviors between those who had advance access to EC and their peers who did not, there was no difference in their use of other contraception techniques besides EC, and most importantly, there was no increase in unprotected sex.

Additionally, there are studies that show that young women who are better educated about contraception delay the onset of sexual activities until later in life—decreasing promiscuity—and are better at using contraception when they do become sexually active.

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