Long-acting Reversible Contraceptives, (LARC) are methods of birth control that provide effective contraception for an extended period without requiring user action.
These LARC includes; Injections, IntraUterine Devices (IUDs) and subdermal contraceptive Implants.
They are the most effective reversible methods of contraception because they do not depend on patient compliance. So their ‘typical use’ failure rates, at less than one percent per year, and are about the same as ‘perfect use’ failure rates.
Long-acting method eliminates fear of unplanned pregnancy as well as brings peace of mind in the home. This is a typical case of Mrs Tayo Hassan, an accountant in a firm in Apapa Lagos, who aspires to go high in her career path is currently on the three year Implant contraception to avoid unplanned pregnancy.
Hassan, blessed with two children had an unplanned pregnancy after she utterly forgot using her contraceptive pills as prescribed due to her busy schedule at work, had intercourse with her husband and fell pregnant.
Devastated she was, as both couple were not expecting a second child soon as the first was barely a year old. There were no proper plans for the child and it resulted to Hassan’s deferment of the professional exams she had enrolled for as a new baby was on the way.
To avert any of such unplanned pregnancy, Mrs Hassan opted for long acting method of family planning as she intended to reach her career peak before having a third child and had since regained peace of mind in her marriage.
Sadly, many marriages have been thrown into disarray due to non-fulfilment of marital obligation from women following fear of unplanned pregnancies.
So many factors could lead to marriage dissolution, but one of such is sexual dissatisfaction, hence, the use of modern family planning commodities brings such satisfaction.
From the Christian religion point of view as pointed out in the Holy Bible, 1 Corinthians 7:4, acknowledges the woman’s non denial of her body to her lawfully wedded husband as wrong.
1 Corinthians 7:4; “A husband should satisfy his wife’s needs. And a wife should satisfy her husband’s needs. The wife’s body does not belong only to her. It also belongs to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong only to him. It also belongs to his wife.”
Despite the Bible’s instructions, sexual denial lingers in marriages for fear of an unplanned pregnancy, but the fear could be reduced through the use of modern contraption.
Statistics from Guttmacher Institute shows that 44 percent of all pregnancy worldwide is unintended, while more than half, 56 percent of unintended pregnancies ended in abortion from 2010 to 2014.
There are 225 million women in developing countries who want to avoid pregnancy, but lack access to modern contraception. Death from pregnancy related causes is the second leading killer of teen girls and women in the global south with most at risk of injury or death from unsafe abortion
It is important for every person of reproductive age to decide and voluntarily access quality family planning and child birth spacing information as well as services.
The right to family planning, therefore, permits the enjoyment of other rights, including the rights to health, education, and the achievement of a life with dignity.
An informed rights-based approach to family planning is the most cost-effective intervention for tackling maternal death and illnesses.
Ensuring universal access to reproductive health services including family planning, can ultimately speed-up a country’s progress towards reducing poverty and achieving global development goals.
According to a new analysis from experts, women who use long-acting methods of birth control are less likely to wind up pregnant than women who use shorter-term methods, which require daily or monthly reminders.
According to a study authored by Dr. Jeffrey Peipert, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis women using birth control pills, skin patches or vaginal rings were 20 times more likely to have an unplanned pregnancy than women who used intrauterine devices (IUDs) or implants placed under the skin of the upper arm.
The study also showed the magnitude of the difference between the contraceptive methods of short and long acting.
It is advised that if a woman’s goal is to prevent pregnancy, the long-acting reversible contraceptives are the most effective method of birth control in order to avoid unintended pregnancies.
But why are women not opting for LARC? It could be that, women are less familiar with long-acting birth control methods, and they hear less information about them from their friends.
Over time, the use of long-term contraceptives has shown a significant higher success rate in preventing unplanned pregnancies as it requires little daily thought.
