"I had mood swings, chest pains, a total loss of libido... It really had an impact on my relationship and my daily life." Like many young women, Manon, 24, stopped taking the pill.
Fifty years after the law on its reimbursement by Social Security, brought by the new Minister of Health Simone Veil, oral contraception is no longer so popular: the intrauterine device (or IUD) is now at the top of the contraception methods used by women aged 18 to 49, according to the survey "Context of sexualities in France", conducted by Inserm and published in mid-November.
In 2005, more than half of women used the contraceptive pill. In 2023, this number had dropped to 26.81%, according to this study.
"We have observed a growing disaffection towards the pill since the beginning of the 2000s, which intensified after the media crisis surrounding the 3rd and 4th generation pills in 2012," underlines Isabelle Derrendinger, president of the National Council of the Order of Midwives. That year, a woman left disabled after a stroke filed a complaint against the manufacturer of a 3rd generation pill - the case opened was closed without further action in 2017.
Among the reasons that motivate this change: nausea, migraines, weight gain, loss of libido, but above all mental load.
“It was really mentally heavy. I would forget it quite often and wake up in a panic in the middle of the night wondering if I had taken it correctly,” says Manon.
And even though contraception is free for women under 26, not all pills are reimbursed. This was the case for Manon, who paid more than 40 euros every three months.
More and more women also want to avoid taking hormones, "whether for themselves or for the environment," explains Isabelle Derrendinger.
"I felt like a chicken," says Marion, now 31. After five years on the pill, she decided to switch to a copper IUD at age 20. "I wasn't really comfortable with the idea of taking hormones; I wanted to get back to a more natural cycle."
– Vasectomy seduces men –
Among young people (18-29 years old), even if the pill remains the most widely used method of contraception, its use has fallen by 17.7 points in seven years (from 54.3 % in 2016 to 36.6 % in 2023). At the same time, the use of the IUD – copper or hormonal – has increased by 8 points to concern 19.3% of young women in 2023, according to the Inserm study.
"Previously, the vast majority of women who used the IUD had already had one or two children. Now, these are patients who are generally in their twenties, who have tried the pill, but who want something less restrictive," describes Geoffroy Robin, gynecologist at the Lille University Hospital.
According to him, the democratization of the IUD is linked to an improvement in information on methods of contraception but also to a change in the mentality of gynecologists, who could refuse to fit an IUD to a woman who had not had children, "even if this was never a contraindication."
The copper IUD can still be quite trying, both when it is inserted and during the cycle, and is often not recommended for women who have painful and/or heavy periods.
Pill or IUD, the burden of contraception still falls largely on women, but some men still try to take part. Condoms, heated underwear, contraceptive ring: the options are still limited.
But for those who want permanent contraception, vasectomy is attractive. "It is a method very popular with men over 30-35 years old. In less than ten years, requests have increased by 450%," underlines Geoffroy Robin, also an andrologist.
Olivier went under the knife at the age of 40. A decision made after the birth of his third child. "Personally, I was sure I didn't want it anymore, but I also did it for my wife," he confides, reporting that she had never found a method that suited her, after having tried the pill, the implant and the IUD.
"It was still relatively unknown in France," he says, "but I realized that it was very widespread in English-speaking countries. For us, it's really the ideal solution."
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