Contraception for Middle-Aged Women

In the United States, the era of modern contraception began in 1960 with the reintroduction of intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUDs) and oral contraception was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It took 12 years following this approval for the social and legal landscape in the USA to evolve sufficiently to make widespread access to contraception possible [1]. For all age groups, the unwanted pregnancy rate in developed countries is 44 per 1000 females [2]. In America, middle-aged women had 46% of unplanned pregnancies aborted between 2008 and 2011, which was the highest percentage of any age group [3]. The unplanned pregnancy rate in this population is 16 per 1000 women [3]. The increased usage of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) is the most significant modification to contraception in the United States before 2010 and now. A total of 62% of women in the USA who are of reproductive age presently use contraception. Ninety percent of all women at risk of unwanted pregnancies use contraceptives [4].