Unintended pregnancy can happen when contraception is being used

It may be thought that the majority of women who request EHC do not use any contraceptive method.

However, research has shown that 67% of women who requested EHC are using a regular method of contraception (e.g. condom or pill)

reasons-for-requesting

Reasons for requesting emergency contraception

If we do the calculation, ‘contraceptive interruption’ is inevitable in a woman’s life, where she is trying to prevent pregnancy from the time she is about 17 years old (mean age of first sexual intercourse) until she is about 50. If she is on the Pill she will need to take about 8000 tablets correctly. It is unsurprising that she sometimes forgets tablets or makes mistakes.

References

1. HRA Data on File. Harris Interactive 2013.