In September, a report from Planned Parenthood surfaced in New York reporting that male and female sterilization has now displaced the contraceptive pill as America’s most popular birth-control method.
The report, published in Family Planning Perspectives, a journal of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, said sterilization is the most common choice among couples who have completed their families.
The report noted that the 11.6 million sterilizations among such couples included 4.9 million vasectomies.
In contrast, the pill is used by about 10 million American women.
Among other findings, the study said about half of unmarried and one-third of married women said they could consider abortion if they had an unwanted pregnancy.
It estimated that more than three million married and unmarried women aged 18 to 44 use no birth control at all.
Of other birth control methods, the study said the condom was third in popularity, with about 4.5 million users, followed by the IUD, with 2.3 million, the diaphragm with 1.9 million and vaginal spermicides with 1.5 million.
Other methods, such as withdrawal, is practiced by 900,000 and periodic abstinence or the rhythm method by 600,000.
