2The Daily Tar HeelMonday. December 3. 1984
The pill remains popular among UNC women
CIA aid planned in 1983
By MSA BRAM I.KV
Muff Writer
The sexual revolution may have
officially died with the 1960s, but the
pill is still the contraceptive of choice
for most sexually active college women,
said employees of three Chapel Hill
women's health centers.
With over 40 variations of the pill,
three kinds of diaphragms, intrauterine
devices, condoms and a host of new
spermicides that have recently flooded
the contraceptive market, the pill
remains the most commonly requested
form of prescription birth control by
an overwhelming margin, according to
representatives from Planned Parent
hood of Chapel Hill, the women's health
center at the UNC Student Health
Services and Triangle Women's Health
Center.
"We're seeing more pill use than
anything else," said Peggy Norton, a
nurse practitioner at SHS. She esti
mated that pill use among UNC women
is more popular by almost a three to
one margin over the next most favored
method of contraception, the
diaphragm.
Of the more than 700 women who
sought initial prescription of contracep
tives last year at SHS, almost 70 percent
chose the pill, 28 percent opted for the
diaphragm and 2 percent selected other
methods such as the IUD. Norton said,
however, that this margin of popularity
for the pill became more accentuated
when examining statistics for pill
renewals and diaphragm refits.
Three to four years ago barrier
methods such as diaphragms, IUDs and
spermicides became popular following
a scare over the possible side effects of
the pill, Norton said, but this anxiety
has passed, leaving the pill, with a
theoretical effectiveness of 99 percent,
more popular than ever.
Many women who experience such
side effects as headaches, nausea,
bloating and breast tenderness from the
pill prefer using the diaphragm with
spermicidal jelly. New formulations of
the pill, however, with lower amounts
of the hormone estrogen often cut down
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
BIRTH CONTROL METHODS
AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS
Pregnancies per 100 women
No method
V
X
X X. X X X X
wn , m
X X.
VP
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n yn fl n n
GRAY represents the potential effectiveness if
the birth control method is used correctly.
"1 BLACK represents the actual effectiveness as experienced
by women in the U.S who want no more children.
on these side effects, said Linda Griffin,
a medical assistant and office manager
at Triangle Women's Health Center, a
private obstetrics and gynecology
facility in Chapel Hill.
There are other problems associated
with these so-called mini pills, however,
which have lowered the amounts of
estrogen and progestogen.
"Some people have breakthrough
bleeding on low dosage pills," Griffin
said. Acne has also been associated with
low dosage pills during the first several
months of use.
Susan Gresko, clinic manager for
Planned Parenthood, said that one
popular misconception about the pill is
that patients often think they may be
protected for one more menstrual cycle
after they discontinue pill use, she said.
"Women are fertile the first month
they come off the pill," she said.
Another misconception about the pill
that is commonly heard among patients
at Student Health is that the pill
increases the risk of cancer in its users.
"The pill actually gives protection
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against breast cancer and endometrial
cancer (cancer of the uterine lining),"
Norton said.
One new innovation in non
prescription, spermicidal contraception
that has been advertised heavily lately
is the Today sponge. The sponge, a
polyurethane device saturated with
spermicide, is sold over the counter like
vaginal suppositories, condoms and
other less permanent contraceptive
methods.
Although the Today sponge is pop
ular as a temporary method because it
is less messy than many other spermi
cides, it has not gained wholesale
popularity yet. Many women, however,
use the sponge before they decide on
a prescription method.
"It's a good method for one-time
users . . . maybe people who have
infrequent sex," Griffin said.
Gresko said that she has not noticed
a great deal of sponge use among
patients at Planned Parenthood.
"Maybe it's just because it's a new
product and people may not be par
ticularly trusting of it yet," she said.
At SHS, Norton said she is seeing
less sponge contraceptive use than when
the product first appeared on the
market."People have found that it's
difficult to remove, and its effectiveness
is often only 80 percent," Norton said.
Another recent breakthrough in
minimizing the risk of unwanted preg
nancy has been the "morning-after" pill.
Used to prevent pregancy after unpro-
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tected intercourse during mid-cycle,
which carries a 25 percent chance of
pregnancy, the morning-after pill is
about 95 percent successful, Norton
said. It is similar to taking a large dose
of the regular pill after intercourse and
consists of four pills containing a high
combination of estrogen and progesto
gen, i
Griffin said, however, that although
the morning-after pill may be prescribed
when necessary, it is not a desirable
method of preventive contraception and
should not be relied upon as birth
control.
"It's not a foolproof method," Griffin
said, "... certainly not the method of
choice."
Although the representatives from
the three centers hesitated to identify
any trends in sexual activity among
local youth, they generally agreed that,
based on national statistics, women are
becoming sexually active at earlier ages.
But Norton said she thought there were
fewer sexually active women at UNC
than there have been in the past.
Because many women are beginning
to do a lot of their sexual experimen
tation in junior and senior high school,
she said, women might be more sexually
stable during their college years. By the
time women are in college, Norton said,
they are usually with one partner, and
take the responsibility to use contracep
tives. Norton said that according to SHS
estimates, unwanted pregnancies result
ing in abortion have remained fairly
constant among students for the last
four to five years at around 250 per
year. She said she considered this rate
good compared to the more than 10,000
females enrolled in the University.
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Krom Associated Press reports
WASHINGTON Senior CIA
officials, including Director William
J. Casey, decided at a mid-1 983
meeting in Honduras to provide
Nicaraguan rebels with psychologi
cal warfare training, a step that led
later to the writing of a controversial
manual, according to U.S govern
ment officials.
The officials, who spoke only on
condition of anonymity, said the role
of Casey and other top officers in
the decision is not cited in a still
secret CIA inspector general's report
that urged disciplining six mid-level
agency officials, several of whom
complained they were being made
scapegoats.
"It was decided at the mid-1983
meeting that the rebels needed an
adviser on psychological warfare to
help them better understand what
they were fighting for and how to
motivate the Nicaraguan people,"
said one official familiar with the
decision process.
Peace talks fail
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador
The government's icy rejection of
a broad rebel peace proposal and the
left's new call to arms make the end
of the five-year-old civil war appear
even more elusive after a second
round of peace talks.
The atmosphere after Friday's 12
hour session is much more hostile
than it was when both sides emerged
after the first round of talks Oct. 15
in the northern village of La Palma.
Violence kills 169
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka The
government reported that 169 people
had been killed in three days, 1 1 of
them in Tamil rebel attacks yester
day on two fishing villages, and said
the separatist guerrillas are "bent on
creating communal violence
-.iirtrvwide "
News In Brief
Sri Lanka destroyed six boats
carrying suspected Tamil invaders
from India yesterday, and last night
its troops skirmished with an esti
mated 100 guerrillas on Talaimannar
pier, which faces southern India,
sources in Colombo said.
Accomplices sought
NEW DELHI, India Police
hunted for two people yesterday, one
of them a fellow policeman, who are
suspected of being accomplices in the
assassination of Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi, the United News of
India reported.
The news agency said police earlier
arrested another man accused of
administering a sacred oath to one
of Gandhi's assassins. The oath
bound him to eliminate her, UNI
said.
Grenadian elections today
ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada
Grenadians vote today in a return
to democracy that the United States
and its Caribbean allies hope will not
backfire.
The United States is officially
neutral in the race for 15 seats in
the British-style parliament, but its
obvious preference to win Grenada's
first election since 1976 is 66-year-old
moderate Herbert Blaize.
The 1976 election was followed by
a 1979 leftist coup, a bloody power
struggle that resulted in an army
takeover and the slaying of leftist
Prime Minister Maurice Bishop on
Oct. 19, 1983. Six days later, there
was a U.S.-led invasion of the tiny,
spice-producing nation.
Foreign students to visit UNC
to learn about culture, business
By RACHEL STIFFLER
Staff Writer
While UNC students are taking a
much-needed break from studies during
Christmas vacation, 26 students from
15 different developing nations in
Africa, Asia, and the Middle East will
converge on the UNC campus for the
Agency for the International Develop
ment's Mid-Winter Community
Seminar to be held Dec. 22-3 1 .
The 'seminar, hosiecl'b'y CNCToTlthe
second time, is being offeretraV 25
different locations around the" country.""
It is sponsored by AID, which is
subsidizing the education of the 26
students in universities all over the
country, including Harvard, Yale,
Tuskegee, Stetson, and the Universities
of Georgia and Kentucky.
Steve Bennett, foreign student adviser
at the UNC International Center, which
is organizing the 10-day seminar, said
most of the participants are mid-level
public officials in their home countries
and range in age from late 20s to mid
40s. One of the main objectives of the
seminar will be fostering community
interaction between the students and
residents of Chapel Hill. "It's a time of
year when the universities they are
attending will be closed," Bennett said.
"It's a chance for them to go to another
part of the country and visit in a
community."
A major part of this community
interaction will be on Christmas Day,
with each student spending the day with
a host family. "It will be an opportunity
for them to be involved in a family's
normal holiday activities," Bennett said.
Since the students will be staying in a
local hotel during the seminar, the host
family will not be responsible for giving
the student a place to spend the night.
Bennett said the students also would
be introduced to the Triangle area
through tours of such places as Old
' $(alnvi.W (nston
5 M useum of Art in Raleigh.
Another-important part of the pro
gram will be a three-day management
seminar examining the methods used by
major U.S. businesses and agencies in
organization and in dealing with
employees. The students will be encour
aged to consider ways the values
involved in these management models
could be applied to the work world of
their home countries.
The management seminar will be
conducted by Michael Hoppe, a man
agement consultant and researcher in
the Triangle area, and Gary Ferraro,
a UNC associate professor.
The students represent many differ
ent career fields, including agriculture,
health services, business, economics,
and engineering.
Some host families have been found
for the students, but more are needed.
Anyone interested in hosting a student
for Christmas can call Adele Gurevich,
host family visit coordinator, at 942-7975.
New talks due to strong NA TO
The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium Secretary
of Defense Caspar Weinberger said
yesterday the Soviet Union was return
ing to arms control talks with the United
States becuase the NATO alliance has
remained strong. '
In Moscow, the Soviet Communist
Party newspaper Pravda said the
Reagan administration agreed to
resume negotiations because Americans
and North Atlantic Treaty Organization
countries want them and the United
States is no more secure despite
increased military spending.
Talks are scheduled for Jan. 7-8
between Secretary of State George P.
Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister
Andrei Gromyko in Geneva to discuss
an agenda for "new talks" on nuclear
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wtipons and space weapons.
"We have that opportunity because
we are strong and I think that is what
brought the Soviets back to the table,"
Weinberger said.
"We want these negotiations to
succeed," he said. "We know they will
only succeed if NATO keeps its strength
and its unity and purpose." He made
the comments as he arrived at Brussels'
Abelag airport for two days of talks by
NATO defense ministers beginning
Tuesday.
The conference will be preceded by
a meeting today of NATO's European
defense ministers at the alliance
headquarters.
Eating disorder
workshop today
The Carolina Union Human Rela
tions Committee will present the
workshop "A Candid Look At Eating
Disorders: Friends Helping Friends"
today at 7:30 p.m. in room 208 of the
Union. Run by Sherry Stuckey of the
Student Development and Counseling
Center, the workshop is designed to help
friends of anorexics and bulimics
understand these diseases and how to
deal with their victims.
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