Demand for abortions has increased as women abandon birth control pills in favor of “period tracking apps.”
Data from abortion clinics in England and Wales has shown a shift away from hormonal contraception towards more natural but “less reliable” methods over the past five years.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, compared the contraceptive methods used by the 33,495 women who had an abortion in 2018 to those used by the 55,055 women who will use them in 2023.
The number of patients aborted by natural methods increased from 0.4 percent in 2018 to 2.5 percent in 2023. The average age of users also decreased, from almost 30 to 27 years.
Demand for abortions has increased as women abandon birth control pills in favor of ‘period tracking apps’
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These “fertility awareness” methods come in the form of smartphone apps that help track a woman’s fertility and cycle, encouraging them to only have sex on days when they are not. fertile.
The data also reveals that the use of hormonal methods among women having abortions fell from 19 percent in 2018 to 11 percent in 2023.
The number of women not using any form of contraception when they became pregnant increased from 56% in 2018 to 70% in 2023.
Along with changing attitudes toward contraception, abortions increased from 201,000 in 2018 to 251,000 in 2022.
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The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health Care has warned that the use of fertility apps is only about 76 per cent effective in preventing pregnancy, compared to 99 per cent for the contraceptive pill.
The study, led by Dr Rosie McNee from NHS Fort Valley, said there was “increasing use of less reliable (contraceptive) methods, which in turn have the potential to increase unwanted pregnancies” .
The report concludes: “While the increase in abortion rates is multifactorial, one aspect that needs to be examined closely is any changes in contraceptive use and in particular this increase in the use of e-health, including fertility apps, period tracking apps, and natural family planning apps. »
The authors also linked the growing hesitancy to use hormonal contraception to social media, noting that women in the UK face long waiting lists to access contraception.
The authors also linked the growing hesitancy to use hormonal contraception to social media.
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NHS leaders have warned against misinformation online about hormonal contraception, including claims it causes infertility.
Data showed that the number of women using the pill as their main form of contraception fell from 47 percent in 2012-13 to 27 percent in 2022-23.
Dr Patricia Lohr, director of research and innovation at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: “This study of abortion patients showed an increase in the use of fertility awareness-based methods and a decline of hormonal contraception. This may indicate that women are making different contraceptive choices or cannot obtain the methods they want.
Bekki Burbidge, of the Family Planning Association, added that there has been greater interest in natural methods in recent years.
“This is likely due to a variety of reasons, including lack of access to other methods, the tendency to want non-hormonal methods with fewer possible side effects, and the greater availability of fertility awareness apps. Fertility awareness-based methods may work well for some people, but they are generally less effective in preventing pregnancy,” she said.