Why is there so little research into the pill? Why are women in the UK offered so little contraceptive choice? This programme tackles the troubling truth – and will make you very angry indeed

Anyone with a womb knows that navigating healthcare can be a thorny thicket. From contraception to HPV vaccines to the politics of pain relief in childbirth, much of what many of us “know” comes from old wives’ tales, fleeting appointments with GPs or advice from tipsy aunts. For every enlightened pal who lets you know some side-effects your doctor didn’t mention, there is an equally ill-informed Twitter account broadcasting that the morning-after pill leaves you infertile or the pill increases the chances of your child having ADHD.

With such sophistry and illusion around the facts, there’s ample space for terrible “wellness” advice, such as blaming cramps on Mercury being in retrograde or Gwyneth Paltrow selling jade eggs to insert into your vagina to “balance hormones”. Snake oil and other potentially harmful alternative treatments can get more traction when the side-effects of progesterone are ill-researched, black women are four times more likely to die during childbirth than their white counterparts and waiting lists for Mirena coils are, as this programme tells us, up to a year long.

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