“Birth control is this generation’s cigarettes,” says a woman on TikTok. “When women start taking the pill they get massively depressed,” says another. “It’s a class-one carcinogen,” continues the feed. “It was 99.9% effective in ruining my life.” Then there’s the meme of a woman unfolding a contraceptive pill side-effects warning leaflet, as large as a bath towel. Meanwhile those who have come off hormonal contraception and turned to fertility awareness apps give the impression of a world of joy and rainbows – and no accidents.
There’s a seismic shift going on in contraception, and health professionals are scrambling to catch up. The TikTok health claims above are wildly exaggerated and often incorrect, but that’s not stopping a generation of women, trans and non-binary people binning their pills. The latest abortion rate in England and Wales is 19 per 1,000 women and growing, the highest it has been since legalisation in 1967 – and in Scotland it is 16 per 1,000, but terminations are up 19% year on year there, with a rise among teenagers too. Some doctors have suggested that social media is to blame for the rise in abortions, as women turn away from the pill.
