The pill hasn’t been improved in years. No wonder women are giving up on it | Martha Gill

Something is changing when it comes to contraception. Lots of people aren’t using it. Last week we heard that this includes a third of young Irish people. Meanwhile, there has been a significant rise in abortions in England and Wales. Prescriptions for the contraceptive pill in England dropped from 432,600 in 2014 to 188,500 in 2021

As menopause wars rage, social media skirmishes erupt over new approaches to hormone therapy – and Sydney is about to be a flashpoint

A menopause and hormone treatment conference in Sydney in March has ignited a passionate debate among medical doctors and researchers about women’s empowerment, social media advice, big business and even how doctors communicate with their patients.The So Hot Right Now conference, being held on 1 and 2 March in Sydney, has become a flashpoint over the science of menopause hormone therapy, or MHT – formerly known as hormone replacement therapy – just as it has in the UK and the US.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailAt the heart of the conflict is the dosage of hormones being prescribed by a new breed of mainly female doctors, and whether evidence supports the claims being made on social media, especially about the benefits of testosterone therapy in perimenopausal and menopausal people.“The menopause wars are alive and well,” says Prof Jayashri Kulkarni, a professor of psychiatry at the Alfred hospital in Melbourne, who will appear on the panel at the Opera House event on 1 March.“Millions of women go through menopause without any problems, but for others the experience is horrendous,” she says

‘Revenge porn’ abusers allowed to keep devices with explicit images

Perpetrators of “revenge porn” offences are being allowed to keep explicit images of their victims on their devices, after a failure by prosecutors to obtain orders requiring their deletion.An Observer analysis of court records in intimate image abuse cases has found that orders for the offenders to give up their devices and delete photos and videos are rarely being made. Of 98 cases concluded in the magistrates courts in England and Wales in the past six months, just three resulted in a deprivation order.In other cases involving digital devices, such as offences regarding indecent images of children, these orders were made consistently.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) this weekend said more must be done to “stop ­perpetrators retaining these images and continuing to take gratification from their crimes”

Domestic violence victims must be included in the assisted dying debate, campaigners say

There is a “significant risk” that victims of coercive control could be put under pressure to end their own lives using assisted dying legislation, charities have warned.The Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) and Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse were among expert organisations that made submissions earlier this month to the committee examining the assisted dying bill, warning that the plans in their current form could endanger victims of coercive control.The groups said discussion of the proposals had so far failed to consider domestic abuse or the risk that perpetrators could coerce or pressure victims into assisted dying.Kim Leadbeater MP, who introduced the bill, which covers England and Wales, said she welcomed the contributions of these groups and was “absolutely committed to ensuring the right protections are in the bill”.Nogah Ofer, solicitor at the CWJ, said: “The evidence shows that coercive control frequently results in victims losing their own sense of self and self-worth, and is closely linked with both domestic homicide and suicide related to domestic abuse

‘My paedophile letters’: French surgeon to stand trial accused of abusing 299 child patients

When two gendarmes knocked on her door in 2019, Marie had no idea that she was about to find herself at the dark heart of one of the world’s biggest child abuse cases.The French mother of three, now 38, was shocked when the officers told her she had been the victim of Joël Le Scouarnec, a surgeon and an alleged serial paedophile accused of raping and sexually abusing hundreds of children.She recalled asking them: “Was I touched?”“No, madame. Raped,” they replied.“I couldn’t think they were talking about me

NHS facing ‘crisis of public trust’ as most people fear being failed by A&E services

Three in four people in the UK fear getting stuck on a trolley in a hospital corridor or an ambulance not arriving after dialling 999, prompting claims that the NHS is facing “a crisis of public trust”.Huge numbers also worry about their local A&E not having enough beds (77%) and not being able to get care at their GP surgery (70%), research also found.Public concern about the parlous state of the health service is so acute that one in three people (34%) are reluctant to seek help at A&E because they think it will be overwhelmed.Even greater numbers – 43% – are so concerned about slow 999 response times that they would be likely to take a taxi to hospital rather than wait for an ambulance.The results, in a survey by the polling company Ipsos, are “worrying and frightening in equal measure”, said Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine