Are Women Ditching Birth Control for Fertility Awareness?

In this FAMM Research Series episode, Lisa examines a new UK-based study suggesting an increase in unintended pregnancies linked to fertility awareness methods. But is that really the whole story? Tune in for a critical breakdown of the data, the real reasons women are turning away from hormonal contraception, and what it all means for practitioners working in reproductive health.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: FAMM Research Series & topic overview
04:20 – Study methodology and population sample
08:30 – Misclassification of fertility awareness-based methods
15:15 – The real stats: 70% used no method
21:40 – The hidden assumptions about FABMs
28:10 – Typical vs. perfect use failure rates
34:00 – Generational shifts in contraceptive education
42:15 – Are we misdiagnosing the problem?
48:50 – Why women are rejecting hormonal contraceptives

Key Takeaways

The study showed a 525% increase in reported use of fertility awareness and birth control apps — from 0.4% in 2018 to 2.5% in 2023.
Over 70% of women in the 2023 cohort reported using no contraceptive method at all — a far more significant factor in unintended pregnancy trends.
Many studies group period tracking apps under fertility awareness-based methods, which inflates failure rates and misrepresents FABMs.
Typical-use failure rates of FABMs vary widely (2–23%), but many modern evidence-based methods perform similarly to or better than hormonal contraception.
This data highlights a gap in contraceptive education and calls for more practitioner-led support in FABM implementation and client education.