Stowe Family Law, the largest family law firm in the UK, surveyed over 500 women across the UK, looking at how their hormonal contraception has affected their marriages / romantic relationships.
With 87% of women responding that their hormonal contraception has affected their physical and/ or mental well-being (with mood swings, anxiety, tiredness, and depression coming in as the most common side effects), it is no surprise that this impacts relationships.
Stowe Family Law is keen to lead the conversation on how hormonal contraception affects relationships, providing helpful and insightful knowledge to help mitigate the problems that often ensue.
Hormones wreak havoc on a love
A whopping 87% of women blame their hormonal contraception (HC) for ailing physical and mental well-being. No fewer than 85% claim that the side effects from this type of contraception have proved detrimental to their marriage or relationship.
Indeed, HC was directly blamed for the demise of their relationship by almost a quarter of women (23%).
Women, not only today’s nurses, worry about the negative effects of HC on their love life. Still, they are projected into the future, with 73% fearing the future of their relationship as a direct result of taking HC.
Nearly a quarter of women reported that their partner does not understand the physical and emotional struggles caused by hormones.
Stowe can offer suggestions to help mitigate HC’s unspoken issues in many relationships.
Can your hormones make you too hasty?
Is there anything worse than living with regret? Some women come to regret their decision to end their love relationship.
Of those women who directly blamed HC’s effects for the downfall of their marriage or relationship and subsequently chose to end it, a majority later regretted it. 64% of women would not make that same decision again.
Pill or partner? You choose
The survey revealed that most women would prioritise love before their convenience. If the side effects of HC put a strain on their relationship, 65% would change their habits.
Switch your contraception and save your marriage
38% of women have already discontinued HC for the harm its side effects were causing to their relationships. 24% have switched to a different type of HC in the hope that it will reduce the pressure building in their relationship. 27% of women under 45 would even come off contraception altogether rather than risk the stability of their relationship.
So, an unwanted pregnancy is preferable to an unhappy marriage?
Is your pill putting you off your partner?
Some women had gone off their partner after taking HC. 17% attributed this loss of attraction to the side effects of HC. Many more women felt that HC had decreased intimacy in their relationships. 33% claim that physical intimacy had been sacrificed on the altar of HC.
Top tips
A ‘top tips’ piece from Stowe can explain how women can alleviate the damage HC is doing to their relationship, from communicating as best you can what you’re going through to advising online resources that can help men understand to considering couples counselling or coaching.
Should HC be gender-neutral?
The negative impact of HC on specifically women’s lives has invited controversy. Should the responsibility of contraception not be shared across genders?
Shouldn’t we all have that responsibility? Is this a question of biology or social construction? Would you trust your man to take his pill when he’s not carrying the child?
