Funding for this research was provided by:
Ministry of Social Affairs, Integration, and Gender Equality of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
German Research Foundation and Open Access Publication Fund of the University of Greifswald (393148499)
Article History
Received: 11 February 2019
Accepted: 23 September 2019
First Online: 18 October 2019
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: All ethical aspects of the study were approved by the advisory board (3 gynecologists, 3 counselors from pregnancy counseling services, 1 pharmacist and 1 commissioner for data security) of the project and conducted in accordance with CONSORT guidelines. All members of the advisory board were appointed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Integration, and Gender Equality of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. Further, all members of the board were not affiliated with the health facilities (pregnancy counseling centers) that the study was conducted in. Administrative permission to conduct the study was given by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Integration, and Gender Equality of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. Following examination of the procedure the ethical committee of the University Medicine Greifswald did not see a necessity for further approval. The women were approached from November 2013 to October 2014. The information of the study was presented through an oral consent process. Counselors in pregnancy counseling services provided the consent information to the women and answered any questions they had. Oral consent was not documented because the research involved no more than minimal risk of harm to participants. The oral consent of the women and their readiness to complete an anonymous and self-administered questionnaire was taken as agreement for study participation. The procedure was recommended by the advisory board to ensure maximum discretion for the women in their choice of contraceptives free-of-charge.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.