Profiles of copper intrauterine devices and levonorgestrel intrauterine systems users in France in 2019: A national observational population-based study

After the pill. Young women’s contraceptive choices in the age of hormone rejection

INTRODUCTION

Although the pill is still the contraceptive method most commonly used by young women in France, since the ‘00s there has been a decline in its use and a questioning of its centrality in the contraceptive norm. This questioning is part of a growing climate of mistrust toward hormonal methods.

PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH

Based on an analysis of a corpus of twenty-one interviews with women aged between twenty and twenty-eight on the subject of contraceptive choice, this article aims to provide information on the ways in which rejection of hormones is expressed and to determine its concrete effects on the interviewees’ contraceptive choices.

RESULTS

The survey shows the prevalence of mistrust of hormones among the young women interviewed. This mistrust is rarely rooted in their contraceptive experience; with a few exceptions, it seems to be more diffuse. This mistrust is most often expressed by women when it comes to justifying stopping the pill, the logistical burden of which becomes increasingly heavy as the years go by. However, the vast majority of women who reject the use of hormones continue to use medical contraception, including hormonal contraception, as long as it is perceived to be easier to use than the pill.

CONCLUSIONS

By questioning hormonal contraception, and the pill in particular, young women are denouncing the lack of choice: they are not asking for less contraception, but for contraception that is better suited to their needs.

Association Between Doses of Levonorgestrel Intrauterine Systems and Subsequent Use of Psychotropic Drugs in France

This matched-cohort study uses data from the French National Health Insurance database to assess whether a 19.5-mg levonorgestrel intrauterine system, vs a 52-mg system, is associated with increased use of antidepressant, hypnotic, and anxiolytic medications.