title: Postcoital contraception in Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this article is to determine the knowledge status of women concerning postcoital contraception when they turn to curettage in order to terminate an undesired pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  This defining study has been carried out at a maternity hospital in Izmir on pregnant women admitted for curettage. We interviewed 150 pregnant cases using an improbability sampling method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We discovered that 48.7% of women had avoided pregnancy before curettage by withdrawal before ejaculation. When we investigated the method used after uncontrolled coitus, 27.3% of cases reported vaginal douche while 12.7% indicated curettage. After having an unprotected coitus or failure in contraceptive methods 99.3% of the women indicated they would report to health institutes to utilize postcoital methods if they were familiar with them.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Postcoital contraception may be a solution for undesired pregnancies.
authors.affiliation: Ege University, School of Health, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey. nerimansogukpinar@yahoo.com
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sogukpinar
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Turkistanli
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Saydam
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D003281:Contraceptives, Postcoital / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004107:Dilatation and Curettage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007434:Intrauterine Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D003281:Contraceptives, Postcoital