Government cuts to the NHS are impacting contraception (Picture: Getty/Metro)

As many of us express disgust or disbelief at women’s reproductive rights being reduced in the US, government cuts are silently compromising access to contraception across the UK.

A new study published by the Advisory Group on Contraception has found that the delivery of contraceptive care is under acute and growing pressure, largely due to significant cuts in local authority budgets.

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The research, which began in 2013, shows that women’s access to contraception is under threat, despite the fact that local authorities are responsible for providing full and open access to birth control.

Access to the full range of contraceptive methods available is strained and some women have been denied their preferred or long-term method of birth control despite the practical inconvenience and hormonal upheaval that comes with switching methods.




More than one in six authorities included in the study decreased spending in contraceptive services, despite it being essential for preventing unwanted pregnancies, avoiding abortions and the implications that unplanned or unwanted pregnancies can have on a woman or girl’s mental health.

The study found that contraception access is can be a postcode lottery (Picture: Getty)

Sadly, access can often be something of a postcode lottery due to a lack of consistency in local authorities’ willingness to provide contraceptive services.

This means that what is available to women and girls in one region may not be in another.

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What’s more community venues which offer contraception – such as GUM clinics or family planning centres – are closing down at an alarming rate.

One in seven (14%) of the councils who responded to the study admitted closing sites in 2015/2016 or had plans to do so in 2016/2017 – this impacts more than 1.5 million women considered ‘of reproductive age’.

The implications could be even greater, as a further 13% were considering similar closures in the coming year.

A woman interviewed by The Debrief claims medics tried to convince her to switch the brand of contraceptive pill they were taking due to spending cuts.

And women who prefer to use the IUD or coil could see trouble down the line as almost a quarter (24%) of local authorities who responded to the study declined to confirm the number of IUD and IUS contracts held within their GP area for 2016/2017, but did indicate these services were set to be reviewed.

Metro.co.uk have reached out to both Public Health England and NHS England for comment.