[Emergency contraception in France: the user profile]

Emergency contraception pill (ECP) has recently become available in France without prescription since 1999. The aim of this study was to explore knowledge, attitudes toward, and use of ECP.

A national sample of 1639 women were interviewed by telephone randomly selected from the telephone directory. After sending a letter to each household to minimize the number of refusals, finally 397 eligible women aged 18-44 years accepted to answer.

Seventy-one percent of women know ECP and 9% had ever used ECP. ECP users were younger, more often single, but no important difference was found with education level, religion and knowledge of ECP between users and non-users. Only 25% of the women knew the exact correct time for using it (within 72 h following an unprotected sex). ECP users had more sexual partners in their life (12 vs. 4, P < 0.05) and 27% vs. 8%, had a previous history of sexual transmitted disease (P < 0.01). ECP users had a different contraceptive profile than non-users; they used less effective methods but the frequency of contraception use was found to be higher. Finally, over 1 year, the percentage of potential ECP users can be estimated at 13% considering women who had reported problems with condom use, forgot their pill once or more.

ECP users are different from non-users, but all women are concerned and should receive increased education on ECP use. Making ECP more easily available in population may reduce the rate of unintended pregnancy.