A Fear Of Using Contraception Has Led To Millions Of Unwanted Pregnancies

Worrying about the side effects of the pill, coil, condoms and other forms of contraception seems to be the main reason why such a huge amount of women are getting pregnant by accident.

And anyone who’s ever flicked through the information booklet that comes with each pack of pills can probably appreciate that train of thought.

There’s a whole lot of scary information about what potential side effects could affect you - weight gain, sickness and mood swings, to name a few. But what you’ve got to remember is that there are loads of positives to using contraception, too.

It’s thought birth control can calm PMS symptoms, acne and possibly lower your risk of getting ovarian cancer. But the number one reason most women use contraception is, quite obviously, to not get pregnant.

Although it's not being used as much as it should be.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that there are around 16.7 million unwanted pregnancies each year – 15 million of which could be avoided if birth control was used.

In a study of stats from 35 low and middle income countries conducted by WHO, 40 per cent of women admitted that they avoid using contraception because they aren’t sure about the side effects and long-term health effects.

But perhaps more worryingly, another 20 per cent of women don’t use a condom or any form of contraception during sex because they underestimated the risk of getting pregnant.

The researchers compared contraception use among 12,874 women between the ages of 15 to 49 – all of which had fallen pregnant without meaning to – with 111,301 sexually active women who weren’t pregnant and had no plans to have a baby.

Not using any contraception at all made it 14.5 times more likely that a woman would fall pregnant and ‘alternative’ contraception methods, such as withdrawal, made it almost three times more likely for women to conceive.

“This study has many implications,” says Dr Howard Sobel, the study’s lead author, from WHO. “For instance, ‘health concerns’ was the most common reason given for not suing modern contraception, yet these concerns are not backed up by evidence.”

Dr Sobel says that health workers should be the ones to educate, reassure and treat symptoms for each individual – as well as finding the contraception method that best suits them.

“We could prevent the overwhelming majority of pregnancies if we could debunk the myths and misperceptions about modern methods and use long-term methods of contraception, such as implants and intrauterine devices.”

But most of all, Dr Sobel stresses that “national strategies need to be put in place”.

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Do you worry about the side effects of the contraception methods available? Let us know in the comments.