About six million women become pregnant each year in the United States.

Of those, 54 percent or 3.3 million pregnancies are unplanned, and 25 percent or over 1.5 million women have abortions, according to a January 1989 report on the health affects of abortion done by the former Surgeon General C. Everet Koop.

According to Koop, since 1973, when abortions were legalized, over 20 million have been performed.

Though the percentages are high, Linda Liston, physician supervisor in the University Health Services gynecology clinic, does not believe that women are using abortions as a means of birth control.

Of the 6,600 students serviced by the gynecology clinic last year, 2,722 of those patients visits were related to contraception.

Of those 2,722 women, 678 attended a pre-session information meeting on birth control methods which indicates that this was their first experience in obtaining birth control.

Liston said that both birth control pills and diaphragms are available to women, but the pill is much more popular.

For both forms of birth control, an examination is required before they may be issued if a woman is not currently using one of the forms.

A recent health center policy allows an outside physician to call in a prescription for birth control pills, allowing a student to receive them at the reduced cost.

Through health services, birth control pills cost $5 a month, a diaphragm costs $7 and contraceptive jelly, which must be used with a diaphragm, costs $4.

A lack of information about diaphragms could be one reason they are not as widely used as birth control pills, Liston said.

Liston said that the diaphragm is a “good back up method” if a woman misses a pill in her cycle, is sick, or on certain antibiotics.

The reason for a failure in a particular method of birth control is often not the method used but the misuse of the birth control by the person, Liston said.

The gynecology clinic offers an exam to women who think they might be pregnant. After the results are obtained the clinic will “respond on an individual basis” to the woman, Liston said.

The clinic does not give referrals for abortions but provides each patient with names and phone numbers of different social services, counselors, clergy members and medical clinics that perform abortions.

“People in general are becoming much more knowlegeable about birth control and their bodies,” Liston said.

Liston said of the women that come to health services after having an abortion are informed of different methods of birth control.

While people in general are becoming more informed about sex education, many believe an unplanned pregnancy “won’t happen to them,” Liston said.

Jane Lux, coordinator of the family planning program at DeKalb County Health Department, said although medical complications after an abortion are possible, they are considered rare.

“Having one abortion shouldn’t affect anyone’s ability to have a baby,” said Lux.

As to emotional trauma a woman might experience, Lux said “most women don’t have severe psychological problems.”

A report entitled “U.S. Women’s Contraceptive Attitudes and Practice: How Have They Changed in the 1980’s?” published in Family Planning Perspectives, a magazine that publishes reports on various topics of birth control, showed the changes in birth control use between 1982 and 1987.

According to the report, the number of never married women that were exposed to the risk of an unintended pregnancy increased from 68 percent to 76 percent.

Birth control pill use increased among unmarried women from 43 to 48 percent. Condom use among the unmarried men and women also increased from nine to 16 percent, the report stated.