Family planning participants spurn comfy contraceptives

Family planning participants spurn comfy contraceptives

JAKARTA (JP): Despite complaints about discomfort and health
problems caused by contraceptives, many women are still reluctant
to change methods, according to experts.

Chairman of the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association
Kartono Mohamad said there were psychological reasons why women
chose to endure discomfort rather than switch to less painful
birth control methods.

Many women prefer to use the pill, despite doctors' warnings
of its side-effects, rather than having doctors insert intra-
uterine-devices (IUDs), he pointed out.

"Pills are easier to use, of course," he said.

According to a 1995 survey by the National Coordinating Family
Planning Board, the pill and injections are still the most
popular contraceptive methods, with each accounting for 32
percent of the total 23 million women in the program.

Of the total participants, 22 percent used IUDs, another eight
percent used implants and six percent had been sterilized.

Kartono said doctors are obligated to advise women about the
side effects of each contraceptive method. "These side effects
differ from one woman to another, depending on their health," he
said.

Nursing women, for instance, should avoid the pill because it
causes breast-milk production to decrease. Women with
hypertension should also avoid the pill because their hormonal
content affects blood circulation.

Women who smoke and use the pill face a ten times greater risk
of having a heart attack than those who don't, he said.

Social psychologist Mochamad Ramdhan said women prefer the
pills to other methods because there's a widespread opinion that
the pill is a "modern" contraceptive.

"Women who use the pill see themselves as more modern than
those who use other methods such as IUDs," the lecturer at the
University of Indonesia's School of Psychology said. "Sometimes,
they even see the alternative methods as old-fashioned.

"Some women associate this 'being modern' with better social
status," he said. The women know the health problems or
discomfort associated with the pill but use it anyway, he pointed
out.

A 1990/1991 survey found that as many as 55 percent of the
family planning participants had complaints about their
contraceptive method. The figure rose to nearly 60 percent the
following year, and to 62 percent in 1992/1993. (31)