The greater access to information, the lower the negative impact on women’s health and unwanted conception.
Dr. Natalia Cárdenas-Suárez, student of the obstetrics and gynecology specialization at the University of Puerto Rico, and Dr. Josefina Romaguera, professor of the medical school of the Medical Sciences campus and researcher of the human papilloma virus. Photomontage: Magazine of Medicine and Public Health. Photo of Dr. Cárdenas taken from her LinkedIn account. Photo of Dr. Romaguera, taken by Yolimarian Torres.
Puerto Rico has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. With a birth rate of forty-nine (49) per thousand (1,000) adolescents, Puerto Rico surpasses the State of Washington (48) and Mississippi (44), as reported by the Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus , dating from 2006.
For the year 2020, Dr. Marizaida Sánchez Cesáreo, executive director of the Third Mission Institute, stressed that statistics reveal that the pregnancy rate among adolescents in Puerto Rico is more than 50% higher than the rate in the United States.
A group of researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecologyfrom the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, found that the gap between knowledge and access to emergency contraception requires action, so telemedicine might be key for this population.
The authors of the investigation are: Dra. Natalia Cárdenas-Suárez, Dr. Cayra Ramírez-Santiago, Dr. Debora Zamora-Olivencia, Dr. Josefina Romaguera, Dr. Enid J. García Rivera, Dr. Yari Vale Moreno. All belonging to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, from the School of Medicine of the University of Puerto Rico.
The study arose from recent policy changes in the United States, where access to health care has been challenged, such as Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court of the United States.
This resulted in researchers becoming concerned with presenting alternatives for public health management, specifically in Puerto Rico, where access to abortion might affect a greater percentage of women living in poverty and/or in medically underserved areas.
The researchers stress that “limiting access to safe abortions is a critical public health and human rights problem, and evidence has shown that it does not reduce the total number of abortions, but increases the number of unsafe procedures,” they point out, therefore emphasize that educating women regarding safe practices and providing accessible terminations of pregnancy are vital to reducing such mortality.
“Telemedicine can be beneficial, given that most women have shown interest in using it, and it might be used to educate and provide women in Puerto Rico with contraceptive methods and medical abortions, further increasing their access to reproductive health,” stand out in the research results.
A total of 286 women participated, leaving the following items as a result:
*73.3% (189/258) were sexually active. 89.1% (229/257) were heterosexual. 62.7% (163/260) did not use contraceptive methods. 63.3% (157/248) were aware of emergency contraception, while 42.4% (103/243) were unaware of any source of access to it.
*76.6% (197/257) were unaware of nearby abortion services. A higher educational level was associated with knowledge regarding emergency contraception and knowledge of the sources of access to it.
However, no significant association was found between a higher educational level and knowledge of nearby abortion services.
Among the most important results, according to the researchers, is that 65.2% (176/270) were willing to use the telemedicine service for future gynecological visits.
They stress that it is necessary to emphasize that the lack of contraceptive use and the ignorance of nearby abortion services place women at greater risk of unplanned pregnancies and unsafe practices.
Therefore, the implementation of telemedicine in regions with inaccessible medical care might facilitate the provision of contraceptives and/or abortions for women in Puerto Rico (PR), given that approximately 65% of pregnancies on the island are not planned.
“Our findings show the increased risk of unplanned pregnancy among women in Puerto Rico due to their unsafe sexual practices. The identified gap between knowledge and access to emergency contraception further increases this risk. In addition, women’s ignorance of nearby abortion services also increases their risk of resorting to unsafe practices,” they indicate.
Therefore, the greater emphasis of this study invites the use of telemedicine as a potential tool to reach women in Puerto Rico to educate them, but also to ensure access to reproductive services, which is also vital to defend the rights of women to health care.
Access the full study here.
