Trends in use of oral contraceptives--data from the 1987 National Health Interview Survey.

Despite fluctuations in current use rates for oral contraceptives, ever-use of the pill has remained remarkably stable for all cohorts of U.S. women born since 1945. Approximately 80 percent of these women report having used the pill at some time. Average duration of use is about five years among cohorts who had access to the pill from their earliest reproductive years. Among women born before 1940, whites are more likely than blacks to have ever used the pill, but no racial difference is evident among women in later cohorts. Age at first use of the pill has declined with each succeeding five-year birth cohort. Black women are more likely than white women to have used oral contraceptives before age 18, but by age 25, about three-fourths of blacks and whites have used the pill. Among ever-users born before 1945, the majority began taking the pill after their first full-term pregnancy; this pattern is reversed among more recent cohorts.