title: Medical barriers to effective contraception.
abstract: Medical barriers to contraception can prevent women from obtaining, initiating, and continuing their contraceptive method of choice. The barriers include lack of appropriate counseling, delaying initiation for menses or laboratory tests, inappropriate contraindications or mandated warnings, untrained clinicians, and financial or regulatory barriers preventing access by low-income, undocumented, or adolescent women. These barriers may partially explain why almost half of pregnancies in the United States are unintended and occur predominantly in the small proportion of sexually active women not using contraception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of New Mexico, 2400 Tucker NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA. lleeman@salud.unm.edu
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leeman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003267:Contraception / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003376:Counseling; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D049168:Pregnancy, Unplanned; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States