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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> Financial hardship has also led many women to cut back on important health care appointments. Among those who were financially worse off, 30 percent said they had put off a gynecologic or birth control visit in the past year.
Although many women said they want to be more careful about their contraceptive use, nearly one-quarter (23 percent) said they were having a harder time paying for birth control than in the past.
Trying to stretch their limited budgets, 18 percent said they were using birth control less consistently. In addition, 8 percent of the women said they "sometimes did not use birth control in order to save money."
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Four percent of women who use birth control pills said they skipped pills, and 12 percent said they had delayed refilling a prescription. Eleven percent of the respondents said they had stopped taking them.
"If you take your pill every other day, your prescription lasts longer, but that's not going to keep you from getting pregnant," Lindberg said.
These practices were more common among the most financially strapped women, the researchers noted.
The findings raise concerns about an increase in unintended pregnancies. "Short-term cost savings have long-term economic and personal consequences," Lindberg said.
But other efforts besides birth control pills to prevent pregnancy may be gaining supporters during the financial crisis. Some women said they are switching to intra-uterine devices (IUDs) and injectable contraceptives, and among women who said they didn't want more children, 46 percent said that they are "thinking more about sterilization."
These changes in attitude and behavior may continue for long after the recession is officially over, Lindberg said. "National economic indicators may take a long time to translate into families' homes and bedrooms," she said.
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