Wednesday, September 18, 2002

'Morning-After Pill' Is Offered at More Than Half of American Colleges, Survey Finds By JEFFREY R. YOUNG Just over half of college health centers in the United States offer "morning-after pills," according to a new survey. But even where they are available, students may not be aware of the option, since several clinics do not advertise the emergency-contraceptive pills because of fears of controversy. Of 358 health centers that responded to the survey, which was conducted in the spring of 1999, 52 percent reported offering emergency-contraceptive pills. The availability of such pills appears to be growing at colleges, as one-sixth of those that offered them said they had started to do so within the previous year. Health centers that offer the option say they do so to prevent unintended pregnancy and because of student demand. The pills are taken shortly after unprotected sex, and they work by inhibiting ovulation, or by keeping a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine lining. The morning-after pill is controversial because some people consider its use as terminating a pregnancy, though others say that pregnancy does not occur until implantation. Of those clinics that do offer the pills, more than one-third reported that they do not publicize them, "mostly because of concerns about creating controversy on campus and a desire not to promote use," according to a report on the study published in the latest issue of the Journal of American College Health. The survey showed that colleges located in the Midwest and the South were less likely than other colleges to offer emergency-contraceptive pills, as were private colleges and those with large commuter populations. Many of the private colleges that do not offer the pills are religious institutions that object to them. Susan K. McCarthy, an assistant professor in the department of health, physical education, and recreation at Eastern Michigan University, conducted the survey. An earlier survey of college health centers in the mid-Atlantic region, which was published in 1996, found that 35 percent of respondents offered emergency-contraceptive pills. Background article from The Chronicle: College Health Centers Face a New Abortion Question (12/15/2000) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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