Women’s Use of Condoms Doubles Since ‘84, Birth Control Study Finds

TRENTON, N.J. — In the era of AIDS, condom use among women choosing reversible birth control methods more than doubled from 19% in 1984 to 42% this year, according to an industry survey released Tuesday.

The 25th Annual Ortho Birth Control Study also found that American women ranked oral contraceptives as the most popular form of reversible birth control for the 25th straight year, partly because more women in their 30s and 40s are taking the pill. A growing number also are using condoms, as gynecologists advise.

“I think the AIDS epidemic has scared a lot of people,” said Dr. Francine Sinofsky, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, a teaching hospital in New Brunswick. “The people that are not in long-term, stable, monogamous relationships are . . . using the condoms as backups.”

The study conducted this spring found that 19% of women age 15 to 50 were using no birth control, 27% were relying on sterilization, 45% were using reversible birth control and the rest had had a hysterectomy or gone through menopause.

Use of the pill has doubled from 8.1 million women age 18 to 44 in 1979 to 16.8 million users age 15 to 50 this year, figures showed.