As of next month women will be able to get the contraceptive pill for free from pharmacies in England without a GP’s approval. The Health and Social Care Secretary, Victoria Atkins, <strong><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67424907#:~:text=New%20Health%20and%20Social%20Care,primary%2Dcare%20plan%20for%20England.">claims</a> </strong>that this change will mean "more options for women when making a choice about their preferred contraception", as well as help free up ever scarce GP appointments. But rather than empowering women with “choice”, the move does little more than entrench a concerning practice.
Making the contraceptive pill more widely available does not serve women’s best interests. Not only does it normalise the idea that women should take sole responsibility for whether they do or do not end up pregnant, it threatens to further postpone diagnosis of underlying conditions that lead to many women seeking a prescription for the pill in the first place. From bad cramps to irregular cycles, migraines and more, the pill is too often prescribed by doctors to mask unpleasant symptoms rather than diagnosing and attempting to solve an underlying health matter. Moreover, all too regularly the pill is prescribed without serious discussion of the risks involved. The progesterone-only pill, for instance, could increase the risk of breast cancer by <strong><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-pill-causes-breast-cancer-says-oxford-study/">up to 30 per cent</a> </strong>– but I’d hasten a guess that that isn’t discussed every time a prescription is issued.
Of course, an increasingly flippant approach to handing out contraception ought to dismay, though probably not surprise, any practising Catholic. Humanae Vitae makes it perfectly clear that contraception is “intrinsically wrong”. Granted, such a teaching may seem far removed from today’s permissive society, not least helped by the silence of many Catholic priests on such matters, but that does not change the authority of the teaching.
At a time when the government is further facilitating contraception as the default option for women, <strong><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/natural-family-planning-its-time-the-church-shared-its-best-kept-secret/">Catholics should not shy away from this controversial issue</a>. </strong>If they were more vocal in their criticisms of contraception, they might find greater numbers of people in agreement than first suspected.
The tide is turning among younger women when it comes to hormonal contraception, with increasing numbers of women deciding to<strong> <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/30/young-women-abandoning-birth-control-pills-for-mental-health/">come off the pill</a></strong> for health concerns. Indeed, there is a growing awareness of, and dissatisfaction with, the fact that doctors fob off young women with the contraceptive pill for a range of medical issues – often far removed from the intent to avoid pregnancy.
This boycott of artificial contraception is particularly stark amongst the young. Gen Z is falling out of love with artificially regulated cycles. The #gettingoffbirthcontrol hashtag has over <strong><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/gettingoffbirthcontrol?lang=en">22 million views</a> </strong>on TikTok, with more women and girls opting for menstrual cycle tracking apps to manage their fertility rather than popping pills. After decades of a culture that thought nothing of the fact that the default position for a woman was to be artificially infertile from teenhood, today’s teens are rejecting the changes ushered in by the sexual revolution and are starting to expect more from their healthcare providers.
Reactionary feminists such as Mary Harrington and Louise Perry have helped popularise this shift by making a feminist case against contraception. I know the arguments used in Harrington’s rallying cry to “<strong><a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/make-sex-wild-again/">make sex wild again</a>”</strong> have proved pivotal in several of my non-religious or lapsed-Catholic friends’ decisions to come off the pill, and they have bolstered the confidence of many of my Catholic friends to defend the Church’s teaching on this hotly debated topic.
Channel 4’s documentary <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/davina-mccalls-pill-revolution"><strong>Pill Revolution</strong></a>, which highlights that the “pill's in decline and natural family planning's on the rise”, has also helped raise awareness of the alternatives to contraception – and the positive impact such knowledge can have for young women. In my own limited experience, I found learning to track my cycle naturally to be surprisingly edifying. I learnt two different “natural family planning” methods prior to marriage, and each time I was reminded of how little I knew of the functioning of the female body – of my <em>own</em> body. Non-Catholic friends who have decided to come off the pill and use natural tracking methods have shared similar revelations. The female reproductive system is complex but comprehensible. And there’s a sense of empowerment in knowing how one’s body works.
Catholics should not be reticent, therefore, in defending the traditional teaching of the Church. As the government introduces changes to make contraception even more commonplace, our priests and bishops should be ready to offer a rigorous defence of the alternative. When was the last time most Catholics heard a homily touch on the sin of using contraception? The chances are it wasn’t recently. There needs to be a renewed focus on the social and moral harms of contraception, and the merits of letting nature play its part. Priests who preach on such matters might just happen to find the teaching is not as controversial as they perhaps feared.
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