“If all women used contraceptives, it would reduce, for example, 1.2 million unwanted pregnancies per year and there would be 43% fewer induced abortions,” women’s health specialist Germán González told a press conference.
The expert, who participated in a forum that brought together health professionals and journalists, explained that in Latin America and the Caribbean the rate of unwanted pregnancy is 69 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49.
Latin America has the second highest teenage pregnancy rate in the world, with about 18% of births to children under 20 years of age.
Mexico ranks first in the world in teenage pregnancies among the nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with a fertility rate of 77 births per 1,000 adolescents between 15 and 19 years of age.
He explained that, according to a survey, just over 57,000 women in Latin America agreed not to use contraceptives, of which more than 23,000 resulted in unwanted pregnancies.
In view of this, he said, there are modern contraceptive options that could improve the numbers of this problem.
Among these options are the traditional short-acting methods, such as the interrupted intercourse, the rhythm, the diaphragm, the cervical cup and the male condom, which is the most widely used in Latin America.
“However, one of the disadvantages of this method is that there are 18 or more pregnancies per 100 women per year,” she said.
While short-acting contraceptives, such as pills, the contraceptive patch, the vaginal ring and the injection, have rates of 6 to 9 pregnancies per 100 women per year.
The expert stated that long-acting options such as the intrauterine device, the subdermal implant, sterilization and the intrauterine system have a rate of 1 pregnancy per 100 women per year.
However, he regretted that there is still a low rate of contraceptive use in the region.
“The difficulty in contraceptive coverage is that governments have not been concerned about creating public policies to prevent this problem because they are focused on other interests,” he said.
That is why, he said, it is essential to take a different approach to this problem in countries like Mexico, one of the countries with the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world.
He also urged that work should be done to put an end to the myths about contraceptives, such as that they cause infertility, weight gain or acne, since some options can be used from the moment a woman becomes sexually active.
Although a specialist should always be consulted to know which is the most appropriate for each person, he warned.
(c) EFE Agency