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Letter

Contraceptive Use

To the Editor:

Ross Douthat (“The ‘Safe, Legal, Rare’ Illusion,” column, Feb. 19) cherry-picks a Guttmacher Institute survey finding — that only a small proportion of abortion patients gave cost as a reason for not using contraception — to support his unwarranted generalization that cost is not a barrier to contraceptive use.

While it may not be so to a method like the condom, cost has been shown to be a significant barrier to the most effective methods available because these methods can cost hundreds of dollars up front.

When a California health insurer eliminated cost-sharing for long-acting intrauterine devices, implants and injectables, enrollees’ use of these methods increased substantially, and their risk of contraceptive failure plummeted.

In another study, of 10,000 women in the St. Louis area, when offered any contraceptive method at no cost, two-thirds chose long-acting methods, a level far higher than in the general population.

Removing these cost barriers nationwide could substantially reduce unplanned pregnancies, unwanted births and abortions.

CORY L. RICHARDS
Washington, Feb. 22, 2012

The writer is executive vice president and vice president for public policy at the Guttmacher Institute.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 18 of the New York edition with the headline: Contraceptive Use. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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