To establish why university students in Finland, who have easy access to well-affordable health services, still use hormonal emergency contraception.
All students who sought emergency contraception in the Tampere Student Health Station during the period from 1 September 2000 to 31 December 2001 received a questionnaire on their use of it. Of the total, 114 (67%) were returned.
Two-thirds of respondents experienced condom failure, and the remainder used no contraception. In open answers, respondents gave many explanations as to why they had used no contraception, e.g. having been over-passionate or drunk.
Finnish students use emergency contraception, but to no great extent. Our results indicate that service providers should pay attention to sexual health in the full sense but not omit to give detailed advice on condom use during counselling.