More U.S. women using the 'morning-after' pill -report

More U.S. women are taking the "morning-after" pill, but generally just once, according to the government's first report on how the emergency contraception drug has been used since regulators eased access to it in 2006.

About 11 percent of sexually active women, or 5.8 million, used the pill between 2006 and 2010, compared to about 4 percent in 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its report released on Thursday.

Among those who used the pill during those four years, 59 percent said they took it just once, while 24 percent said they used it twice, the report said. Seventeen percent said they used it three times or more.

The CDC's findings come amid a renewed fight over birth control access as religious groups push back against President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law, which includes a provision requiring health insurance coverage of contraception.

Many conservative groups, including Catholic institutions that oppose use of artificial birth control - especially morning-after pills, are challenging the rule, saying its religious exemption is too narrow.

A separate CDC report, also released on Thursday, found that 99 percent of sexually active women of reproductive age have used some form of contraception, with the use of condoms and longer-term, non-pill methods on the rise.

Morning-after pill use rises in US Use of the morning-after pill in the US is on the rise, a trend driven largely by wider use among younger women, a major government study has found.

Some 11% of sexually active women had used the morning-after pill, up from 4% in 2002, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One in four women aged 20-24 had used the drug, compared with one in nine women overall.

The CDC surveyed more than 12,000 females aged 15-44 from 2006-10.

The research showed that white and more educated women had used the drug the most, usually because of worries that their other birth control method had failed.

Hispanic and black women were more likely than whites to report using the drug after unprotected sex.

Emergency contraception has been available by prescription in the United States since 1999. One version, known as Plan B, has stirred the most political controversy.

Plan B, much like regular birth control, stops pregnancy by blocking the release of a woman's egg, or it may prevent fertilization or implantation in the uterus. But it must be taken within days after intercourse to work.

What Is the Morning-After Pill (Emergency Contraception)?

Emergency contraception is a safe and effective way to prevent pregnancy after unprotected intercourse.