Pill can be taken every day, say scientists after dismissing break devised to placate Pope
THE contraceptive pill can be taken every day of the month, new NHS guidance says, as scientists have successfully cancelled the seven-day break brought in to “convince the Pope it was natural”.
Updated guidelines from the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), which sets key national guide- lines for the safe prescription of contraceptives, highlight that there is no health benefit to the traditional sevenday break in taking the combined contraceptive pill and scientists say the change will prevent more unwanted pregnancies.
“The gynaecologist John Rock devised [the break] because he hoped that the Pope would accept the pill and make it acceptable for Catholics to use,” The Sunday Telegraph.
Prof Guillebaud has spent his career researching male and female contra-
‘We have been taking the pill in a suboptimal way because of this desire to please the Pope’
ceptive methods and, with Prof Anne MacGregor, a women’s health specialist, dismissed the standard way the combined hormone contraceptive pill has been taken over the past 60 years in a paper published last year.
Women requesting combined hormonal contraception can now be given more information about its effectiveness with a new leaflet issued by the Family Planning Association. Prescrip- tions for a full year of the birth control will also be more widely available if the guidelines are followed.
Dr Diana Mansour, the vice president for clinical quality of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, said: “The guideline suggests that by taking fewer hormone-free intervals – or shortening them to four days – it is possible that women could reduce the risk of getting pregnant on combined hormonal contraception.” The new Nice-accredited clinical guidelines bring contraceptives up to date with the work of researchers and some doctors who have already been advising patients against taking a break between packets of pills.
Prof Guillebaud added: “How could it be that for 60 years we have been taking the pill in a suboptimal way because of this desire to please the Pope?”