WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- More U.S. women are availing themselves of contraceptives services, such as birth control pill prescriptions, according to a new national survey.

From 1995 to 2002, the percentage of American women who said they received contraceptive services rose from 36 percent to 41 percent, according to Jennifer J. Frost, a senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute in New York City, and author of the survey report published in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

I don't know any women who use them but I know they are around and are supposed to be very effective. Does (or has) anyone use them? Everyone I know uses the Pill, an IUD or male condom.

Does the female condom protect against disease and infection as well as pregnancy and does sex feel the same with them? And where can I get them?

I'm pretty shocked by this, since birth control is so highly effective. I suppose I simply assume that if you don't want to get pregnant, you'll make sure to take birth control each and every time! Accidental pregnancies can happen - but most are highly preventable.

I was in a car accident and suffer from herniated disks and arthritis of my spine. As life changing enough as that is when I received the report from my CT Scan they had other news to tell me as well. I have a liver disease. When the doctor explained how serious this could be and that I need to go to a specialist for further examination because I'm too young (22 years old) for this type of problem I became overwhelmed by emotion, but needed to find out all I could on my condition.

There has been recent attention related to the birth control Ortho-Evra, known as "the patch", and some of the potential risks associated with using it.

Hormonal contraceptives, such as "the pill", "the patch", "the ring", include hormones such as estrogen, which in large doses, may have side effects including blood clots (which is why women are urged not to smoke when on hormonal contraception, as this risk increases even more). Blood clots are rare, but serious and can lead to stroke, and increased doses of estrogen are linked to increased chances of blood clots.

St. John’s Wort (or Hypericum perforatum to the botanists, herbalists, and Latin lovers out there) is an herb commonly used to combat depression or serve as a ‘mood booster’. However, the herb will not work for every type of depression and is not recommended for use by everyone. In many ways, St. John’s wort presents a number of potential problems, especially for women.