VOA标准英语2010年-Stash of Morning-After Pills May Not R

Providing emergency contraception before it's needed does not affect unwanted pregnancy¹ rate

Philip Graitcer | Atlanta, Georgia 22 March 2010

Family planning experts wondered if having emergency contraceptives on hand would prevent unwanted pregnancies².

A new review of 11 medical studies finds that easier access to emergency contraception does not reduce the rates of unintended pregnancy.

Emergency contraceptives, like the so-called morning-after pill, can prevent pregnancy if they are taken within 120 hours of unprotected intercourse³. But barriers discourage their widespread and timely use. Some women find it difficult or embarrassing to request a prescription⁴ from their doctors or to get the medication in time.

Family planning experts wondered if having emergency contraceptives on hand would solve that problem. Dr. Chelsea Polis, a family planning researcher at the Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, explains they gave women the medication as a precaution, so they would have it on hand if they needed to take it.

"Advance provision of emergency contraception is the idea that providing women with a packet or several packets of pills in advance of need will allow them to access the medication more quickly, and that by accessing it more quickly, they'll be able to use it within that recommended time frame," says Polis.

Pill only works if it's taken

She and her colleagues have just completed a review of 11 medical studies that measured the effectiveness of advance provision of emergency contraception.

In the Cochrane Database of Systematic⁵ Reviews, she reports, "We found that easier access to emergency contraception did help women use the pills more quickly when it was needed, and they used it more often, but despite that increased use and faster use, it didn't reduce rates of unintended pregnancy."

Polis explains that the strategy did not work as predicted because of what's called a population level effect. "When you can't say for sure whether all the women in the advance provision group actually used the medication, then you're kind of looking at population level effect of a strategy, not the individual effect of a medication." In other words, while emergency contraception is effective for individual women, advance provision can't be expected to make a different in the community.

Because of this finding, Polis says that family planning experts must continue helping women understand when they are at risk of becoming pregnant and teach them how to avoid unintended pregnancy
 

1 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

2 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

3 intercourse   

n.性交；交流，交往，交际

参考例句：

• The magazine becomes a cultural medium of intercourse between the two peoples.该杂志成为两民族间文化交流的媒介。
• There was close intercourse between them.他们过往很密。

4 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

5 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。