Tips on Contraception for Women
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
The importance of contraception is bigger than ever. The Ministry of Health and Welfare implied that it may allow abortion, which is banned by law in Korea expect for few occasions.
The government also reported that the number of abortion in the country in 2005 marked more than 340,000 while the number of new born babies was little over 460,000.
Still, abortion can critically damage the women's body, and the contraception to prevent pregnancy from the first place has become quintessential. Also, women's conducting the contraception is becoming important.
However, still not many people are aware of methods of contraception or using contraceptives. According to a research conducted by Study Group for Contraception, 20.5 percent of 1,000 women aged from 19 to 34 said they use the coitus interruptus, withdrawing penis from the vagina prior to ejaculation, or fertility awareness, measuring basal body temperature, to make a birth control. The reason to using the rather low-successful methods or none was mostly because they didn't want to feel bothered. The fear of contraceptives being harmful to body and fear of becoming possible infertile in the future followed behind.
However, Prof. Lee Im-soon at Soon Chun Hyang University said these two methods have 4-27 percent and 9-25 percent of failure rate.
Moreover, only 4.8 percent of women said contraception is for women to participate, showing they depend on males' management when it comes to birth control.
However, experts say number contraceptives have been developed, and are fit for different kinds of people. Here are few kinds of the methods and their effectiveness.
Condom:
Many people prefer condom to other contraceptives because they are easy to purchase and use. However, experts say condoms are more effective in protecting one from venereal disease than pregnancy. Bayer Healthcare's report showed that condoms have 2-15 percent of failure rate, showing they should be used with other contraceptives if needing perfect protections.
Oral contraceptives:
They were once considered not good for women for because of dealing with hormones. Up to this date, some people warn that there could be skin trouble after taking them for too long, but Bayer Healthcare spokeswoman Nam Joo-yeon said the pills are getting better and some of them mark 99 percent of success rate.
Cervical barrier:
They are contained completely within the vagina. However, Lee said that women with little sexual experience or immature vagina should not use this tool.
Surgical sterilization:
It is in the form of tubal ligation for women. It is almost like tying, cutting, clamping or blocking the fallopian tubes. This prevents sperm from the joining the egg. They are considered permanent, but since condoms or pills are getting better, the number of women receiving the surgery is decreasing.
Emergency contraception:
It is also called ``morning after pill'' and is licensed for use up to three days after intercourse. However, because it may prevent a fertilized egg from developing, some experts refer it to a form of abortion and experts recommend using this method only for the last choice. They are said to cause excessive bleeding. They can be bought with prescriptions only.