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More than half of U.S. women report having ever used withdrawal (coitus interruptus) for contraception despite the CDC's low efficacy ranking of this method, resulting in unintended pregnancy rates as high as 28% per year. What do recent findings say about this readily available, no-cost method of contraception? Researchers analyzed data from the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth in 2220 women aged 15 to 24 (i.e., those most likely to have unintended pregnancies).
Almost one third of respondents (31%) reported using withdrawal for at least 1 month during the study period. Women who used withdrawal had higher unintended pregnancy rates than those who exclusively used other forms of contraception (21% vs. 13%), and were substantially …