Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Global cities
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

Contraception inequality in Europe is widening

Lucy Martirosyan 13th February 2023

Acccording to the 2023 Contraception Policy Atlas, access to birth control in parts of Europe is worsening.

contraception
A gynaecologist explaining the diaphragm method of contraception and birth control (Andrey_Popov / shutterstock.com)

Access to contraceptives in Europe remains ‘very uneven’, according to a new report from the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF), launched at the European Parliament ahead of Valentine’s Day. The sixth edition of its Contraception Policy Atlas, which rates 46 states throughout Europe, shows that the best-performing countries are the United Kingdom, France and Belgium. At the bottom of the ranking are Poland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary.

‘The Contraception Policy Atlas reveals who is improving and who is backsliding in providing women the means to make decisions over their own bodies,’ said Sophie in ’t Veld, a Dutch member of the parliament. ‘With this atlas, we can see that we are far from that goal.’

Divided picture

At first glance, the EPF map paints a divided picture between a green Europe on the left and a red Europe on the right.

Screenshot 2023 02 12 at 16.02.01

‘There’s a polarisation between the east and west of Europe,’ said Neil Datta, its executive director. ‘Westen Europe has been improving. On the other side of the continent, unfortunately, the countries have not been progressing away from dark red, red and orange.’


Become part of our Community of Thought Leaders


Get fresh perspectives delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter to receive thought-provoking opinion articles and expert analysis on the most pressing political, economic and social issues of our time. Join our community of engaged readers and be a part of the conversation.

Sign up here

The colour green is attributed to countries with ‘great performance’, while the countries in red indicate ‘poor performance’. Countries are ranked depending on how European public authorities perform—across access to contraception, counselling and online information. Eight countries in 2023 were red, compared with 12 last year.

‘Fifty-seven per cent of women in Europe use modern contraception, which shows an increase compared to last year’s edition,’ Datta said. ‘Thirty-five per cent of pregnancies in Europe are unintended and this represents the lowest rate in the world.’

Full range

The UK scored the highest ranking (96.9 per cent), thanks to the country’s expanded access to a full range of modern contraceptive methods as featured on the National Health Service website, Datta said. This includes long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), such as intrauterine devices and hormonal implants. Contraception services are free and confidential, including for individuals under the age of 16.

France came in a close second (93.2 per cent). Condoms became free in French pharmacies for those aged 16 to 25 as of January 1st. Emergency contraception also became available free without a prescription.

Ireland received a special mention from the forum for its strides in improving access to contraception. Starting this September, the age range for free contraception will be extended to include those aged 16 and those aged 26-30. This was spearheaded by Pauline O’Reilly, a member of the Irish Green Party.

The once conservative, Catholic country has long struggled with adopting legislation meant to empower women’s bodily autonomy ‘but it has really shifted in a short space of time’, explained O’Reilly, mentioning Ireland’s adoption of abortion and same-sex-marriage legislation in the past decade. ‘I do think politics is key,’ she said. ‘It’s also about saying: how can we push a human rights movement that’s not just led by women but where women’s rights are at the forefront?’

Dark red

Poland (33.5 per cent) is the only European country to remain dark red, indicating its ‘extremely poor performance’. In 2017, the Polish government made access to the morning-after pill available only by prescription. Datta said he would be presenting the atlas’ findings to the Polish parliament.

Attitudes toward contraception and access to public health in general differ culturally in eastern and western Europe because of shrinking demographics and income inequality, said Rositsa Kratunkova of Médicins du Monde in Bulgaria. Out of 46 countries, 11 were downgraded, according to Datta. Armenia, Turkey and Ukraine dropped a few points because non-governmental websites with information about access to contraceptives disappeared.


Support Progressive Ideas: Become a Social Europe Member!


Support independent publishing and progressive ideas by becoming a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month. You can help us create more high-quality articles, podcasts and videos that challenge conventional thinking and foster a more informed and democratic society. Join us in our mission - your support makes all the difference!

Become a Social Europe Member

In addition to financial and economic barriers, access to contraception can be undermined by the spread of prejudice and misinformation. ‘From my point of view as a clinician, I think fighting misinformation and lies is our utmost goal,’ said Jan Greguš, a gynaecologist at the Czech Republic’s Centre of Outpatient Gynecology.

The report also found 41 countries (89 per cent) covered counselling within their national health systems. Only 14 (30 per cent) covered contraceptives for the over-25s, while 19 (41 per cent) provided good or exceptional governmental websites.

This was first published by openDemocracy

Lucy Martirosyan
Lucy Martirosyan

Based in Yerevan, Armenia, Lucy Martirosyan is openDemocracy’s Eurasia investigative reporting fellow, with a focus on Russia and post-Soviet states, having previously worked as a radio producer for the US-based The World.

You are here: Home / Society / Contraception inequality in Europe is widening

Most Popular Posts

Russia,information war Russia is winning the information warAiste Merfeldaite
Nanterre,police Nanterre and the suburbs: the lid comes offJoseph Downing
Russia,nuclear Russia’s dangerous nuclear consensusAna Palacio
Belarus,Lithuania A tale of two countries: Belarus and LithuaniaThorvaldur Gylfason and Eduard Hochreiter
retirement,Finland,ageing,pension,reform Late retirement: possible for many, not for allKati Kuitto

Most Recent Posts

European Health Data Space,EHDS,Big Tech Fostering public research or boosting Big Tech?Philip Freeman and Jan Willem Goudriaan
migrant workers,non-EU Non-EU migrant workers—the ties that bindLilana Keith
ECB,European Central Bank,deposit facility How the ECB’s ‘deposit facility’ subsidises banksDavid Hollanders
migrant,Europe,workers All work and low pay—Europe’s migrant workforceAnkita Anand
art,European,prize The case for a European prize for artNed Hercock

Other Social Europe Publications

strategic autonomy Strategic autonomy
Bildschirmfoto 2023 05 08 um 21.36.25 scaled 1 RE No. 13: Failed Market Approaches to Long-Term Care
front cover Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship

ETUI advertisement

The four transitions and the missing one

Europe is at a crossroads, painfully navigating four transitions (green, digital, economic and geopolitical) at once but missing the transformative and ambitious social transition it needs. In other words, if the EU is to withstand the storm, we do not have the luxury of abstaining from reflecting on its social foundations, of which intermittent democratic discontent is only one expression. It is against this background that the ETUI/ETUC publishes its annual flagship publication Benchmarking Working Europe 2023, with the support of more than 70 graphs and a special contribution from two guest editors, Professors Kalypso Nikolaidïs and Albena Azmanova.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound Talks: housing

In this episode of the Eurofound Talks podcast, Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound’s senior research manager, Hans Dubois, about the issues that feed into housing insecurity in Europe and the actions that need to be taken to address them. Together, they analyse findings from Eurofound’s recent Unaffordable and inadequate housing in Europe report, which presents data from Eurofound’s Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey, European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and input from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents on various indicators of housing security and living conditions.


LISTEN HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

The summer issue of the Progressive Post magazine by FEPS is out!

The Special Coverage of this new edition is dedicated to the importance of biodiversity, not only as a good in itself but also for the very existence of humankind. We need a paradigm change in the mostly utilitarian relation humans have with nature.

In this issue, we also look at the hazards of unregulated artificial intelligence, explore the shortcomings of the EU's approach to migration and asylum management, and analyse the social downside of the EU's current ethnically-focused Roma policy.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI European Collective Bargaining Report 2022 / 2023

With real wages falling by 4 per cent in 2022, workers in the European Union suffered an unprecedented loss in purchasing power. The reason for this was the rapid increase in consumer prices, behind which nominal wage growth fell significantly. Meanwhile, inflation is no longer driven by energy import prices, but by domestic factors. The increased profit margins of companies are a major reason for persistent inflation. In this difficult environment, trade unions are faced with the challenge of securing real wages—and companies have the responsibility of making their contribution to returning to the path of political stability by reducing excess profits.


DOWNLOAD HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube