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An expert panel has said social media myths could contribute to high rates of unplanned pregnancies in Australia and urged for broader education on birth control.
“There has been a lot of misinformation around pain and IUD insertion,” Professor Deborah Bateson from the University of Sydney said.
“We need to counteract this through evidence-based messaging that is appealing to younger generations.”
Videos spruiking the benefits of “natural contraception” have racked up hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok.
As of August, the hashtag #gettingoffbirthcontrol has reached over seven million views on the social media platform.
One clip, which has gained over 350k views on the platform, saw one woman claim that black seed oil was a natural form of birth control.
Another video, which received more than a quarter of a million views, showed a woman allege her bra size doubled after three months off the pill.
Dr Sharon James, a research fellow at the Australian Contraception and Abortion Primary Care Practitioner Support (AusCAPPS) network, said promoting evidence-based information was essential to combat harmful misinformation.
“People need to know about their contraceptive options and what’s going to work for them in their circumstances,” Dr James said.
“We need to have more evidence-based information on those platforms, as well as in schools.”
About 40 per cent of births each year in Australia are unplanned, with women aged 25 to 29 at the highest risk.
A recent Senate inquiry into reproductive healthcare called for major changes to Australia’s health system to give women better access to birth control.
One of the report’s key recommendations was to make contraceptives more affordable.
Currently, newer birth control options like progesterone only pills are not listed on the government’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
Other contraceptives like the copper IUD, which can be particularly useful for women at risk of breast cancer, are also not subsidised.
Giving nurses and midwives the power to prescribe contraception could also be a key way to drastically improve women‘s access to birth control, particularly in rural areas.
Of the estimated 36,000 midwives in Australia, only 908 are allowed to prescribe contraceptives, according to the nation’s peak midwifery body.
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