Contraception or abortion? Inaccurate descriptions of emergency contraception in newspaper articles, 1992-2002.
BACKGROUND
Media portrayals of emergency contraception (EC) may influence public health policy and the public's acceptance of this reproductive health option.


OBJECTIVE
We investigated the accuracy of newspaper coverage of EC, 1992-2002.


METHODS
We conducted a content analysis of a sample of 1077 articles in 113 newspapers discussing both EC and abortion and determined the frequency of confusion between the two.


RESULTS
Of all articles, 44.5% (n = 479) included at least one instance of confusion between EC and medical abortion. Inaccurate portrayal of the mode of action of EC as medical abortion occurred in 31.8% (n = 343) of articles; 13.1% (n = 141) inappropriately applied terms such as "abortifacient postcoital contraceptives" for EC.


CONCLUSIONS
Errors were prevalent, persisted over time and may have contributed to incorrect beliefs about a form of contraception that is used infrequently, despite its potential to deter unintended pregnancy and abortion.
Pruitt
Sandi L
SL
Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, The University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Mullen
Patricia Dolan
PD
D000028:Abortion, Induced; D044363:Contraception, Postcoital; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media / Q000592:standards; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000592:standards; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*; D009626:Terminology as Topic