Of course, the pill has done a lot of good for generations of women from its entry on the Dutch market in 1962. For the first time, women were given the freedom of choice not to go through life as breeding machines. They became less young mother and were therefore able to invest longer in their education and career. That ensured that more women got their own income and became financially independent.
The pill has since been the most popular contraceptive for young women. But the daily swallowing of the hormones gives many annoying side effects. As a result, the popularity has run back in recent years. In 1998, seven in ten women between the ages of 18 and 24 took the pill. In 2023, that share was almost halved. Moreover, 750 thousand pill users indicate that they would prefer an alternative. They want a pill without hormones but with the same ease of use.
That now seems to be found in the form of Mifepriston 50 mg. You take it as a pill once a week instead of daily. It contains no hormone, but a kind of anti-hormone that blocks the functioning of the pregnancy hormone progesterone. It changes the mucous membrane of the womb so that there is no implantation of a pregnancy.
In a higher dosage, the drug is already known as an abortion pill. In a low dosage it appears that it works well as a contraceptive. That has already been tested abroad. The best result was that the women in the study had no problems with side effects at all. Except that they had much less or sometimes even no blood loss at all. Halleluja!
But before the hormone -free pill is allowed to enter the Dutch market as a contraceptive, a major practical research is still needed. Women who want to test Mifepriston 50 mg for a year can register for this at the hospitals in Alkmaar, Den Helder, Leiden, Almere and Rotterdam.
Passing is that the pill, because there are no hormones in it, can be used safely by women with an increased risk of hereditary breast cancer. Moreover, the researchers expect it to help against the very painful periods of endometriosis. So women who suffer from it can also sign up for the research.
But the most groundbreaking is that the expensive research is not financed by the pharmaceutical industry. Through crowdfunding, the Dutch doctor Rebecca Gomperts, founder of abortion organization Women on Waves, collects the required financing from independent donors. The donors are women who have been able to make career thanks to the pill and have earned their own money. They now choose to invest their money back in a patent -free, affordable pill for the next generations. Pioneering!
