TikTok wellness influencers discouraging hormonal contraceptive use is lunacy

Bonney Corbin, chair of the Australian Women’s Health Alliance, is clear. “We need a national confidential data collection and publication mechanism so we have some understanding of contraception and abortion in Australia,” she says. “We can’t improve practice without knowing what’s going on.”

So we don’t know what’s going on. But I can’t imagine we would be immune to the woo-woo therapy offered on TikTok.

And even the people at MSI Australia, a specialist provider of abortion and contraception services, are hearing echoes of TikTok.

MSI Australia’s medical director Philip Goldstone, who has worked in abortion and contraception care for more than 20 years, says: “We are concerned about the rise of contraception misinformation on TikTok. This misinformation risks undermining trust in reliable contraception methods and could lead to poorly informed choices when it comes to reproductive health.”

Goldstone says he has seen women come through MSI Australia clinics who cease or choose not to be on contraception, based on what they view on social media.

“It is their choice, but it is concerning how influential the misinformation is becoming,” he says.

So what does Black, who has worked in this area for 30 years, think about this campaign against hormonal contraceptives?

“Everything in life has advantages and disadvantages. Most women tolerate hormonal contraception well – and many women on the pill find their periods are lighter and often less painful,” she says.

Here’s the real deal, though. The risk of an unintended pregnancy using “natural” methods is up to three times higher than using the pill, says Black. And don’t you think our mothers and grandmothers would have told us how natural methods worked if they really did work?

Black tells me that much of what she has seen on this trend focuses on side effects, often with inaccurate claims. And yes, the pill can make you moody. Here’s what will make you even moodier.

Trying to get an abortion which doesn’t cost the earth. In NSW at least, a tiny handful of public hospitals provide access to abortion – and that’s only recently increased.

Says Black: “These methods are not reliable – in fact they are the least reliable. Depending on natural family planning to prevent pregnancies, particularly if you are young and don’t have regular cycles, places you at risk of an unintended pregnancy.”

The latest edition of British Medical Journal Sexual & Reproductive Health calls for newer forms of contraception which work for everyone – and suit everyone. I’m wondering if that includes a contraceptive for men.

As for ginger and lemonade and cinnamon, each is delicious in drinks. Thermometers are excellent in seeing if you have a fever or are actually ovulating (but they are not always accurate there either). As for eggwhites, try pavlovas.

Jenna Price is a regular columnist.

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