Provider Attitudes Toward Dispensing Emergency Contraception in Michigan's Title X Programs

Abstract

In 1997, the US Department of Health and Human Services instructed all Title X delegate agencies to provide emergency contraceptive pills as part of their standard family planning services. The results of a survey conducted in the state of Michigan in October 1996, prior to this policy development, elucidate potential obstacles to implementation of this directive. Questionnaires were completed by the family planning coordinator of all 53 Michigan health departments and Planned Parenthood affiliates that receive Title X funding. At the time of the survey, only 32 programs were providing emergency contraception and 27 of these agencies were offering the method to no more than one woman per month. 75% of providers agreed that poor or underprivileged women would benefit from more widespread access to emergency contraception through Title X programs. Barriers to translating this commitment into practice included inadequate staffing, the logistics of scheduling emergency appointments, lack of federal service guidelines, few client requests, and reservations about the impact on sexual risk-taking and contraceptive practice. In several cases, the decision not to dispense emergency contraception was made by a medical doctor or health officer who viewed the method's medicolegal status as unclear or considered the associated political risk too great. The subsequent marketing of a product specifically designated for emergency contraception should alleviate provider concerns about the method's status. The logistic concerns suggest a need to consider provision of emergency pills to clients in advance of actual need.