Beyond birth control: The benefits of universal contraception don’t end at pregnancy prevention

Oct 18, 2023
by Humaira Niazi, Jamie Thompson, Emma Skolnik

Last April, British Columbia became the first Canadian province to offer free prescription contraceptives, setting a standard for the rest of Canada. Months later, despite the obvious benefits that extend far beyond family planning purposes, no other Canadian jurisdiction has followed suit.

Costs remain the single greatest barrier to contraceptive access. Advocacy groups remain steadfast as they renew calls for universal contraception access while engaging political leaders in the discussion to end inequitable access to reproductive health care in Canada.

Continued: https://healthydebate.ca/2023/10/topic/birth-control-benefits-universal-contraception/

18.10.2023

Commentary

Emma Skolnik

free contraception

free prescription contraception

hormonal contraception

Humaira Niazi

Jamie Thompson

menstrual irregularities

Australia – Want long-term contraception? There are more effective options than the pill. But they can be hard to find

June 2, 2023
by Deborah Bateson

Australians’ access to a range of contraceptive options depends on where they live and how wealthy they are. A recent parliamentary inquiry recommends ways to end this “postcode lottery” for people who want to use long-acting reversible contraception.

There are several types of long-acting reversible contraception: the hormonal contraceptive implant, the hormonal intrauterine devices (IUD) and copper IUDs.

Continued: https://canadianinquirer.net/2023/06/02/want-long-term-contraception-there-are-more-effective-options-than-the-pill-but-they-can-be-hard-to-find/

02.06.2023

hormonal contraception

USA – The Long Campaign to Turn Birth Control Into the New Abortion

Now that the fall of Roe v. Wade has ended the constitutional right to abortion, many in the religious right have a new goal: undermining trust in, and limiting access to, hormonal contraception – including the pill.

May 20, 2023

When the Supreme Court’s decision undoing Roe v. Wade came down, anti-abortion groups were jubilant – but far from satisfied. Many in the movement have a new target: hormonal birth control. It seems contradictory; doesn’t preventing unwanted pregnancies also prevent abortions? But anti-abortion groups don’t see it that way. They claim that hormonal contraceptives like IUDs and the pill can actually cause abortions.

One prominent group making this claim is Students for Life of America, whose president has said she wants such contraceptives to be illegal. The fast-growing group has built a social media campaign spreading the false idea that hormonal birth control is an abortifacient. Reporter and producer Alaa Mostafa teams up with UC Berkeley journalism and law students to dig into the world of young anti-abortion influencers and how medical misinformation gains traction on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, with far-reaching consequences.

Continued: https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-long-campaign-to-turn-birth-control-into-the-new-abortion-update-2023/

20.05.2023

Commentary

anti-choice misogyny

birth control

hormonal contraception

Jolene Brighten

Roe v. Wade

Students for Life of America

United States

Anti-choice

Contraception

‘I felt colossally naive’: the backlash against the birth control app

‘I felt colossally naive’: the backlash against the birth control app
Natural Cycles was hailed as a stress-free, hormone-free contraceptive. Then women began reporting unwanted pregnancies

Olivia Sudjic
Sat 21 Jul 2018

Last summer I had an abortion. Statistically unremarkable, yes, but mine wasn’t because of a split condom or a missed pill. I was four months into a tense relationship with a much-hyped Swedish “digital contraceptive”, a smartphone app called Natural Cycles. I had spent my 20s on the pill, but hated not knowing whether my emotional state was down to artificial hormones or not. My boyfriend and I had been together for eight months, and I was desperately seeking something new, something that wouldn’t make me feel so anxious.

That’s when the adverts started following me around on social media: glowing women reclining in Scandi bedrooms, all pale grey sheets and dappled light, brandishing basal thermometers and telling me how great it felt to “get to know yourself better”. Natural Cycles’ ads promised the “world’s first contraceptive app”, something “natural, hormone free & non-invasive”. I could start using it without a two-week wait for a doctor’s appointment and so, in a fug of hormones and frustration, I bought a subscription. I was sold on shiny promises, a sleek user interface and the fact that a former Cern physicist, Elina Berglund, was at the company’s helm. But four months in, it failed. Berglund helped discover the Higgs boson; but it turns out her algorithm couldn’t map my menstrual cycle.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/21/colossally-naive-backlash-birth-control-app

Humanae Vitae: The Story Behind the Ban on Contraception

Humanae Vitae: The Story Behind the Ban on Contraception
2018 Issue 1, By Conscience
Posted Apr 29, 2018

Fifty Years Ago, Pope Paul VI Slammed The Door On Catholics’ use of modern contraceptives with the encyclical Humanae Vitae and its fateful words: “The Church…in urging men to the observance of the precepts of the natural law, which it interprets by its constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.” 1

Humanae Vitae marked a turning point for the Catholic church, as Pope Paul rejected the theologically sound findings of his own Papal Birth Control Commission in favor of a turn to rigid orthodoxy. Having missed the chance to craft a modern, compassionate sexual ethic based on the individual consciences of Catholics, the church found itself largely ignored on matters of sex by its own faithful, which left it grasping for other ways to enforce its teachings. It was also a historic moment for the rest of the world, as Humanae Vitae would come to dominate the hierarchy’s stance on public health challenges like the spread of HIV/ AIDS and access to birth control in the developing world.

Continued: http://consciencemag.org/2018/04/29/humanae-vitae/

Half Of U.K Women Who’ve Had Abortions Experienced ‘Failed Contraception’

Half Of U.K Women Who've Had Abortions Experienced 'Failed Contraception'

July 8, 2017
Rachel Moss

More than half of women who had an abortion last year were using contraception that had failed, a new report suggests.

According to data released by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas), 51.2% of women who had an abortion at bpas clinics in 2016 reported using a method of contraception.

Continued at source: Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/07/08/half-of-u-k-women-whove-had-abortions-experienced-failed-contr_a_23021706/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage

08.07.2017