Who’s on the pill?

Care practices and inequalities in contraceptive consultations.

Abstract

In France, the rate of contraceptive prevalence has remained high since the diffusion of the various medical methods from the 1970s, with the pill being represen- tative of its growth. Yet, towards the end of 2012, the third and fourth generation pills were a source of media, health and political scandal due to an associated health risk, resulting in disaffection for oral contraception as a whole. Since then, and despite a significant decrease of its use rate, the pill remains the most commonly used method. However, this does not mean that all users enjoy a free and informed contraceptive choice. Focusing on the practices of healthcare workers, this paper proposes to study the impact of the different approaches to care in terms of inequalities in access to infor- mation and the prescription of contraceptives, as well as to understand its specificities based the ways in which healthcare workers categorise their patients.