Emergency contraception (EC) is an important option to prevent unplanned pregnancies after unprotected or inadequately protected intercourse. Little is known regarding provision of EC in the United States, particularly since ulipristal acetate (UPA) was FDA-approved in 2010. The Contraceptive Care Measures are validated population-level contraception measures that were introduced by the US Office of Population Affairs (OPA) to demonstrate population-level access to the most (female sterilization, implant, intrauterine device (IUD)) and moderately (injectables, pills, patch, ring, diaphragm) effective forms of contraception. Although these measures were validated in 2016, they are currently in the beginning stages of being implemented and are not yet widely utilized. Emergency contraception and EC access is not included in the Contraceptive Care Measures and, therefore, we know even less about population-level EC utilization.
In this study, we plan to utilize OPA’s framework for the Contraceptive Care Measures to develop a similar metric for assessing EC. We will then apply the metric to the University of Washington (UW) health care system to generate an EC contraceptive care measure report for clinical departments as well as assess factors associated with provision of EC among women, ages 15-44, who are at risk of unplanned pregnancy and seeking care at a UW-affiliated clinic.