"Did you consider a morning-after pill when you found out the condom broke?" I asked. Lakeesha looked at me blankly. Like almost 85 percent of students who get abortions, Lakeesha hadn't heard of this method, which has been available in the United States for more than 25 years and is about 75 percent effective. The regimen is exceedingly simple: Within three days of unprotected intercourse, pills of Plan B are taken twice.

An editorial on the need for more widespread information and availability of emergency contraception.

Until it's available over the counter, if you are a woman who's sexually active and relying on condoms and/or spermicides, talk to your doctor, get a prescription for an emergency contraceptive, Plan B or Preven, fill it, and keep it in your medicine cabinet or bedside table just in case.

To be sure, no reasonable person likes abortions. We should agree that anything that reduces the number of abortions is a good thing.