Across Western Europe, a growing movement of women are stepping away from decades of reliance on hormonal contraception like the birth control pill, turning to so-called natural fertility tracking methods in search of a hormone-free approach to pregnancy prevention. But this growing trend, fueled in large part by social media influencer advocacy and the booming global wellness industry, carries significant underreported risks that have already led to devastating outcomes for some users, medical experts warn.
Elodie Monnier Legrand, a 30-year-old small business owner based in France, was one of the many women drawn to the idea of natural birth control after a decade of using the pill. She sought to let her body return to its natural, hormone-free state, investing in a monthly subscription for a popular fertility tracking app and a 200-euro smart temperature-monitoring ring to follow her cycle. Just months after making the switch, however, Legrand experienced two unplanned pregnancies that ended in abortion within six months. She later discovered her go-to app had miscalculated her fertile window by a small margin, a mistake that had life-altering consequences. “It’s not an exact science,” Legrand told AFP in an interview, adding that after the incidents, the app’s customer service offered only cold, impersonal responses. While she still considers the conversation around natural contraception interesting, she now questions whether the trend is little more than a new profitable market for the wellness industry.
Official data underscores just how quickly this trend is growing in France. According to France’s national health research institute INSERM, the share of women using natural contraceptive methods jumped from just 4.6% in 2016 to 7.5% in 2023. A similar decline in hormonal contraception use has been recorded across the English Channel: a 2023 study published in BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health found that hormonal contraception use in England and Wales fell from 19% in 2018 to only 11% in 2023, mirroring the uptick in interest in natural fertility awareness methods.
Social media influencers are a core driver of this shift, often framing natural birth control as a form of liberation from the unwanted hormonal side effects of the pill and other hormonal contraceptives. For many women, these claims resonate. Louise, a 26-year-old French woman who asked to keep her surname private, told AFP that hormonal contraception caused severe health issues for her: at 18, her body rejected a hormonal IUD, and a subsequent contraceptive implant left her struggling with unmanageable weight gain, severe mood swings and clinical depression. For six years, she has relied on the calendar method, one of the most common natural approaches, which involves calculating the monthly 10-day fertile window and abstaining from intercourse during that time.
Other popular natural methods include the temperature method, which requires daily tracking of basal body temperature to detect the small increase that occurs during ovulation, the Billings method, which requires daily self-inspection of cervical mucus to identify fertile days, and the sympto-thermal method, which combines temperature and mucus tracking.
But medical experts say much of the popular rhetoric around hormonal contraception and natural methods relies on misinformation, and that fertility tracking requires extreme, consistent discipline to deliver even partial effectiveness. Geoffroy Robin, a gynecologist at Lille University Hospital in France, told AFP that the current surge in interest in natural methods stems from a widespread “climate of hormone-phobia” that overlooks the pill’s decades-long role as a foundational tool for women’s emancipation, giving women control over their reproductive plans that enabled educational and professional advancement.
Multiple independent studies confirm that natural contraceptive methods are far less effective than hormonal or barrier contraception. A 2022 INSERM review of roughly 100 popular fertility tracking apps found that fewer than 20% delivered accurate predictions of fertility cycles. The review also uncovered a major privacy risk: most apps shared users’ sensitive personal health data with third-party advertisers, often without explicit user consent. Robin added that natural methods are completely ineffective for the roughly one in five women who have irregular menstrual cycles, and many common everyday factors can skew tracking results: yeast infections and antihistamine medications can disrupt cervical mucus production, while paracetamol, antibiotics, or even a sudden shift in work schedule can alter basal body temperature, leading to incorrect fertile window calculations. The 2023 BMJ study also identified a correlation between the rise in natural contraception use and a recent increase in abortion rates across England and Wales.
INSERM experts emphasize that natural contraception should only be considered by women who are fully willing and able to accept the risk of an unplanned pregnancy. For those with irregular cycles or preexisting health conditions that can disrupt tracking, these methods are not a safe alternative to traditional contraception, doctors stress, urging any woman considering a switch from hormonal contraception to consult a licensed gynecologist before making a change.
French sociologist Cecile Thome points out that the trend is deeply tied to the growth of the global wellness industry, which markets natural contraception under the appealing banner of “taking control of one’s body”—a marketing message that has convinced millions of women to spend money on apps, wearables and other fertility tracking products. For Legrand, that promise of control ultimately ended in profound physical and psychological harm, leaving her to question whether the trend is as empowering as its advocates claim.
