Time Explores Growing Popularity Of Emergency Contraception In India

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 28 May 2010 - 4:00 PDT

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Since it was introduced in 2002, India's market for emergency contraception has grown by 245%, leading some health experts to express concern that the increasing popularity and accessibility of EC could pose health dangers for women, Time reports. Starting in 2005, Indian law allowed EC by various brands to be sold without a prescription.

According to Time, EC first became popular in 2007 when Cipla introduced its "i-pill," targeting "modern young women" via television and magazine advertisements that promoted the pill as "tension free." Since then, EC "has taken over" India's birth control market, particularly among "urban India's increasingly educated and independent women," Time reports. The i-pill alone has higher sales than condoms or other oral contraceptive pills in India, Time reports.

However, physicians and health experts have expressed concern that young women who take EC too often may face health risks. The pills' "extreme convenience" does not correlate with "extreme safety or extreme rationality," Rishma Dhillon Pai, vice president of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India, said. For example, the i-pill contains levongestrel, which is generally considered safe but can cause nausea, vomiting, weakness and menstrual changes. Some physicians have reported an increasingly high level of hormone changes in women who use EC three or four times a month. In addition, some experts have expressed concern that the use of EC as opposed to other contraceptive methods is making women vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections.

Health advocates are urging greater education of urban and rural Indian women about EC. Experts note that, when used properly, EC can be "instrumental" in altering the way women approach sexual activity, according to Time. Research by FOGSI has shown that 78% of pregnancies in India are unintended and at least one-quarter are "unwanted" (Khullar Relph, Time, 5/26).

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