Should Preventing Unintended Pregnancy Be Family Planning’s Holy Grail?

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By Christine Dehlendorf - Rewire News Group
Jun 19, 2018

“Besides unintended pregnancy, several other widely used measures of success—including use of IUDs or other highly effective methods—paint over individual experiences and autonomy. Many people love their IUD, and that is great. However, for many people, the IUD is not the right choice for them. Maybe they don’t want to use a method that is inside their uterus. Or they don’t want to use a method that lasts for years, or they don’t want a method that they need a provider to remove for them. All of those are valid reasons for not choosing an IUD. We should not mark it as a “failure” of our efforts to improve contraceptive access if a patient does not choose this method. Instead of unintended pregnancy and proliferation of IUDs, let’s find new measures of success.”

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