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Washington University study compares short- and long-term birth control methods

A new study out of Washington University suggests that women who use short-term birth-control methods like the pill are 20 times more likely to have an unintended pregnancy than those who use longer-term options like intrauterine devices or implants.Washington University gynecologist Tessa Madden says even though IUDs and contraceptive implants are clearly more effective, most women in the U.S. still rely on birth control pills and condoms to prevent pregnancy. 

She says one reason for that is price: IUDs and implants can cost up to a thousand dollars.

“So if women don’t have insurance, or they don’t have contraceptive coverage through their insurance, that cost may be insurmountable,” Madden said.

But Madden says because IUDs and implants last for years, they actually end up costing less over the long term. And she says they can always be removed early if a woman decides she wants to get pregnant.

Véronique LaCapra first caught the radio bug while writing commentaries for NPR affiliate WAMU in Washington, D.C. After producing her first audio pieces at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies in N.C., she was hooked! She has done ecological research in the Brazilian Pantanal; regulated pesticides for the Environmental Protection Agency in Arlington, Va.; been a freelance writer and volunteer in South Africa; and contributed radio features to the Voice of America in Washington, D.C. She earned a Ph.D. in ecosystem ecology from the University of California in Santa Barbara, and a B.A. in environmental policy and biology from Cornell. LaCapra grew up in Cambridge, Mass., and in her mother’s home town of Auxerre, France.