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, claims 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 up to 30 per cent – but I’d hasten a guess that that isn’t discussed every time a prescription is issued.
