Condoms and the Pill are
especially popular among younger women, while older women are more
likely to rely on sterilisation or their
partner's vasectomy.
Three out of four women under 50 use contraception, say the ONS
figures, based on a survey of 1,093 women under 50.
Other statistics show the number of people using NHS
community-contraception clinics rose by 7 per cent to 1.3million last
year.
Victoria Sheard, deputy head of policy at sexual health charity the
Terrence Higgins Trust, said: 'An increase in condom use is very good
news as condoms offer double protection - against sexually transmitted
infections as well as unwanted pregnancy.'
The fpa, formerly the Family Planning Association, called the
figures 'encouraging'.
But a spokesman for the Marie Stopes International, the sexual and
reproductive health charity, said women could not afford to become
complacent, saying: ' Contraception needs to be used consistently and
correctly to be effective.
'Not all women follow these instructions as they should and are in
complete shock to find themselves pregnant.'
In 2006, then health minister
Caroline Flint said that a condom should be as much a feature in a
woman's handbag as lipstick.
But experts said the declining popularity of the Pill appeared to
be a bigger factor behind the latest figures than young people heeding
advice
about avoiding sexually transmitted infections.
More than half of sexually active single people - 58 per cent of
men and 52 per cent of women - said publicity about STIs had not made
them use condoms more often or have fewer one-night stands.
Courtesy of
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