OVER one-quarter of sexually active young women not prepared for motherhood still avoid using birth control, a new survey has found.
The numbers suggest more has to be done to educate young women on how to ward off unwanted pregnancies, said Dr Beh Suan Tiong, president of the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society of Singapore.
The latest survey was conducted by the society and the local arm of pharmaceutical giant Bayer Schering Pharma.
Many women do not use contraceptives, thinking pregnancy 'won't happen to me', Dr Beh said.
The results of the survey, now in its third year, were similar to previous findings.
Meanwhile, researchers found, of the women who practise birth control - some of whom use more than one method - 81 per cent use condoms, while 14 per cent employ the withdrawal method.
Just 11 per cent use the Pill, despite studies that show it is far more reliable than other techniques. It fails less than 0.1 per cent of the time.
Condoms are up to 98 per cent effective in preventing pregnancy, but that number plummets if they are not used properly. The withdrawal method works just over 80 per cent of the time.
The condom remains the most popular contraceptive as it is easily bought and is widely seen as the most effective method of preventing pregnancy, said Dr Beh.
In the survey, 52 per cent of women identified the condom as the most reliable birth-control method; only 23 per cent said it was the Pill.
Women also shy away from the Pill because they fear it will lead to weight gain and affect future fertility.
But Dr Janet Lee, a general practitioner and adviser to the survey, said newer formulations have done away with the weight-gain problem, and there is no evidence to show that it affects fertility.
The latest survey was based on interviews with 814 women aged between 20 and 35. It found about 45 per cent were sexually active but not prepared to get pregnant.
The high percentage of those women who do not use birth control could be contributing to the number of abortions here, said Dr Beh.
Last year, 11,933 women here had abortions, down from 12,032 in 2006.
This story was first published in The Straits Times on Nov 21, 2008.
