by JUHIE BHATIA (with HAJER NAILI)
In a country where the pill has long dominated, women are now turning to other options, including less reliable “natural” methods. At the same time, abortion rates may have gone up last year, partly due to the pill controversy.
Isaline Sivret has been on the pill since 2008. The 28-year-old says she’s single now, but when she gets into a serious relationship she might switch to another type of birth control, one she doesn’t need to worry about taking all the time. One option she’s considering is the IUD.
Sivret, who lives in Toulouse, adds that she’s been questioning the safety of the hormones in the pill even though she takes it, as do most of her friends.
The pill has long been popular in France, which has one of the highest rates of its use not only in Europe but in the world.
But Sivret isn’t alone in contemplating going off of it. While the pill is still the most common type of birth control here in France, and the contraception most recommended by doctors, a study published in May by the French National Institute for Demographic Studies finds a significant increase in the diversity of methods women are using, triggered in part by a media debate on contraceptive pills in late 2012 and early 2013.
“The media and political events of 2012-2013 seem to have had a marked effect on the contraceptive landscape, although it is impossible to say whether this effect will last over time,” said the authors of study.
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