Women are struggling to access condoms, the pill and the coil: Experts fear cuts to contraception services will cause a surge in abortions
- Almost half of all councils in England have or will make cuts to such services
- Long-term contraceptives, like the coil and implant, will be most affected
- Many women prefer these due to them being more effective than the pill
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Women are struggling to access contraception due to such services being cut throughout England.
According to Freedom of Information requests, almost half of all councils in England have closed or plan to cut the number of sites issuing contraceptives between 2015 and 2019.
Experts fear restricted access to long-term contraceptives, like the coil and implant, will cause a surge in abortion rates.
Dr Louise Skioldebrand, who is one of the few GPs that still fits long-acting contraceptives in Stowmarket, Suffolk, said: ‘I think there’s a real risk that unplanned pregnancies will go up.
‘I would guess in a year’s time, we will have more.’
Women are struggling to access contraception due to services being cut throughout (stock)
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DOES HORMONAL BIRTH CONTROL INCREASE A WOMAN’S RISK OF DEPRESSION?
Hormonal birth control does not increase women’s risk of depression, research suggested in February 2017.
Contrary to popular belief, contraceptive pills, implants or injections do not make women more likely to suffer from the mental-health condition, a study found.
Lead author Dr Brett Worly from Ohio State University, said: ‘Depression is a concern for a lot of women when they’re starting hormonal contraception.
‘Based on our findings, this side effect shouldn’t be a concern for most women, and they should feel comfortable knowing they’re making a safe choice.’
The researchers blame platforms such as social media for making contraception complications seem more common than they are.
Dr Worly said: ‘We live in a media-savvy age where if one or a few people have severe side effects, all of a sudden, that gets amplified to every single person.
‘The biggest misconception is that birth control leads to depression. For most patients that’s just not the case.’
The scientists add, however, certain women are at a greater risk of the mental-health disorder and should be monitored closely.
Dr Worly said: ‘Adolescents will sometimes have a higher risk of depression, not necessarily because of the medicine they’re taking, but because they have that risk to start with.
‘For those patients, it’s important that they have a good relationship with their healthcare provider so they can get the appropriate screening done – regardless of the medications they’re on.’
The researchers reviewed thousands of studies investigating the link between contraceptives and people’s mental health.
Such studies included various methods of contraception, including injections, implants and pills.
Participants in the trials were made up of teenagers, women with a history of depression and those who had given birth in the past six weeks.
The Advisory Group on Contraception contacted all 152 local authorities in England, of which 74, or 49 per cent, claimed to have reduced or plan to reduce their contraception services.
Long-acting contraceptives will be most affected. These are often preferred, particularly by older women, due to them being more effective than the pill or condoms.
Between 2014 and 2016, three quarters of councils in England made cuts to contraceptives being issued in GP clinics or walk-in services due to doctors not have the time or training to fit them. This caused many to turn to sexual-health clinics.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, claims it is ‘bizarre’ that cuts are being made to contraception services when evidence suggests they are one of the most cost effective healthcare interventions.
She fears such cuts will set back improvements that have been made to sexual and reproductive healthcare in the UK over the past few years, with teenage pregnancy rates halving and contraception use increasing.
Professor Stokes-Lampard told the BBC: ‘We’re at a crossroads, whereby all the progress we’ve made is under serious threat, and we fear it will be some of our most vulnerable patients who are affected most.’
She also added the way sexual and reproductive healthcare clinics are run is too fragmented, with not all being adequately funded to carry out such services. The Department of Health claims local councils allocate their health budgets.
This comes after previous research suggests oral contraception increases a woman’s risk of suffering from certain types of stroke.
Birth-control pills raise a woman’s likelihood of suffering from an ischemic stroke, which occurs when an artery to the brain is blocked and makes up around 85 per cent of cases of the life-threatening condition, a study found.
The researchers, from Loyola University in Chicago, wrote: ‘[Among] women with other stroke risk factors, the risk seems higher and, in most cases, oral contraceptive use should be discouraged’.
Such contraceptives do not raise the risk of hemorrhagic strokes, which are caused by bleeding in the brain, the research adds.
Birth-control pills, patches and jabs are thought to rise the risk of artery blockages by making blood more likely to clot.
The researchers stress, however, the risk is low among women without any risk factors for clotting, such as high-blood pressure and smoking.
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