The Nation - News from Oct. 30, 1986

The majority of American women do not use birth control during their first sexual encounter but most often opt for the pill and then sterilization as their lives progress, a government survey on contraception showed. The National Survey of Family Growth found that less than half--45%-- of women 15 to 44 used birth control the first time they had sex. But the pill, despite longtime questions about health risks, was the leading choice among all women seeking contraceptives. Men wee not included in the contraceptive figures for first-time sexual encounters, but sterilization, when combined among men and women, was found to be the most used overall method of birth control.