28 million women at risk of unwanted pregnancy

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Each year, half of American women who would rather not get pregnant will have an unplanned pregnancy, often because they failed to use their contraceptive properly or forgot to use it at all, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

As a result, 28 million women in the United States are at risk for an unintended pregnancy, according to the study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute in New York.

They found one in four women are very likely to become pregnant because of inconsistent contraception use.

Some of this gap is due to lack of access to health care, with many women saying they cannot afford some of the more effective methods of contraception such as birth control pills that require a doctor's visit and prescription.

"It is critical to have a better understanding of what is preventing women from using contraception consistently and correctly, or even at all," Dr. Jennifer Frost, a senior research associate at Guttmacher, said in statement.

The research involved surveys of women and family planning providers nationwide. Among the results, they found that more than half of women who have a gap in contraceptive use of at least one month have experienced some type of major life event -- such as the end of a relationship, a move, job change or personal crisis.

They also found that many women are not satisfied with their current method of contraception, a problem that can lead to missing birth control pills or failure to keep a condom handy, for example.

Last month the National Center for Health Statistics reported there were almost 6.4 million pregnancies in 2004, down 6 percent from 1990. Forty-five percent were to women who were not married, and there were 1.22 million abortions and 1.06 million stillbirths and miscarriages.

The researchers also found that many women who are lax about birth control are simply ambivalent about preventing a pregnancy and confessed that they would be very pleased if they found out they were pregnant.