I was kindly invited to speak about my experience of contraception at this year’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) World Congress. It was the first year that members of the public were invited to speak about the patient experience.

As a member of the RCOG Women’s Voices Involvement Panel, I spoke about the need to give patients an informed choice when offering contraception and the power of listening and opening a dialogue.

To find out more about the congress, click here. To hear my speech, click here. To read a transcript of my speech, keep reading!

Across the UK and the rest of the world there is an ongoing sex education crisis. Governments, education officials and some healthcare professionals are afraid and embarrassed to talk about sex and sexual health, and much of the general public is grossly misinformed and ill-educated about their rights. 

Choosing the right contraception can be difficult, confusing and scary for women and people with uteruses, especially given the host of reported side effects from many who use the pill and fear mongering around long acting reversible contraceptives.

For trans men and nonbinary people in particular, it is important to be sensitive of the language used and understand that even having a conversation about contraception can be dysphoric and embarrassing. A lack of knowledge and access to information leaves young women especially, in limbo, taught in what little, often incomprehensive, sex education they receive that condoms and the pill are their only options, with many not realising that in the UK we have 15 methods available on the NHS. 

Using myself as an example, I recently started and chose to stop taking my third contraceptive pill, having also had bad experiences with previous hormonal contraceptives. When I went to see my doctor about my PMS symptoms, I brought up both of my experiences on the pill with my doctor, telling her exactly which pill had caused which reaction, and explaining that my biggest concern was my hormonal contraceptive affecting my mental health.

Unlike other doctors I had seen, she explained all of the options available to me, along with the potential side effects, and suggested a contraceptive pathway which would allow me to monitor any negative symptoms and later decide if a long acting reversible method would be more suitable. She made it clear that if my new pill wasn’t suitable, as it wasn’t, there were other options we could explore. That gave me the power to decide what exactly I wanted to do with my body. 

I am lucky that I am well informed already about contraceptive methods, understand my body and feel comfortable discussing my options. Others aren’t so lucky. Patients need to be encouraged to monitor their menstrual cycle, understand their bodies and pay attention to adverse reactions to contraception because this type of understanding of our bodies simply isn’t taught in schools.

Access to and information about contraceptive methods are human rights issues. Many people simply don’t know what they don’t know. As healthcare professionals and advocates for sexual health, it is your responsibility to make sure that women and people with uteruses are given information about potential side effects and the positives and negatives of each option. Individual concerns should be a priority.

The most important thing to remember is that contraception is an extremely personal choice and not only will each individual react differently to each type, but each patient has different needs from their contraception, along with unique concerns.

As a healthcare professional, taking the time to listen to people with uteruses and walk them through every option available not only improves the chances of the patient picking the right type of contraception for them, but also helps them to trust you and feel comfortable coming back with further sexual health questions. We need and deserve the information and advice to make an informed choice.