Clinic to offer birth
control injection within next month
By Morgan Conklin
Summer
Reporter
Planned Parenthood is going to be offering a
new type of birth control; sort of.
Lunelle, an injection that is administered once
a month, is going to be available to the public within the next month.
However, this method of contraception has been available worldwide
for more than 40 years.
Maureen Dobie, media coordinator for Planned
Parenthood, said that because many Americans believe abstinence is
the best form of birth control, Lunelle has just recently been considered
for use in the United States.
Lunelle is administered once every 28 to 30 days
by a nurse practitioner, and patients don’t have to worry about
taking an oral contraceptive every day. "This is a great option
for women who do not want to be locked into taking a daily contraceptive,"
said Dobie.
According to its Web site, Lunelle contains progestin
and estrogen, the same hormones that are in oral contraceptives. Microcrystals
of these hormones are time released throughout the month to be effective
for the entire time it is in a woman’s body.
Depo-Provera, the other type of injected contraception,
is slightly different from Lunelle. The former only consists of progestin,
which causes a woman to not have a period while on the medication,
which is not unhealthy.
However, Dobie said that because Lunelle contains
estrogen, women would have their period while on the medication. She
said women might opt for this new type of injection to ease their
worries about pregnancy.
According to a news release from Planned Parenthood
officials, this injection, like oral forms of birth control, has rendered
results of 99.8 percent effectiveness, and the patients involved with
the clinical trials said they would recommend this alternative over
the birth control pill.
This injection has side effects similar to oral
contraceptives. They include lighter monthly bleeding, weight gain
and nausea.
It should be noted that not all women should
use this form of birth control. Along with many types of contraception,
those women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, smoke heavily or have
severe diabetes should not use Lunelle.
Women interested in receiving Lunelle should
consult a practitioner at the Lafayette Planned Parenthood branch.
The cost of the injection is expected to cost $30 to $35.
