Pilot project starts

Contraception: still a woman’s and private matter

Half of Austrian women pay for protection alone.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/pixel-shot.com (Leonid Yastremskiy))

In Austria, half of women still bear the costs of contraception alone, which also has an impact on the choice of protection. Without nationwide free access to contraception and advice, Austria is not exactly at the forefront of the EU. A pilot project is now set to bring about a turnaround. 

The fact that contraception is an issue for two is not exactly new: nevertheless, only around 27% of Austrians still share the costs of condoms, the pill etc. Half of women pay for this alone, according to the Ministry of Health's Contraception Report 2024. Specifically, around 1.2 million women of reproductive age between 14 and 45 currently use contraception.

Depending on the contraceptive, the costs range from around 30 to 230 euros per year. According to the report, condoms, the pill, the mini-pill and the IUD are the most commonly used forms of protection. In general, however, only 66.3 percent of the women surveyed use contraception, 33 percent do not use it at all.

This would be much better: if contraceptives of all kinds were made available free of charge in Austria, 36.6% would either use contraception at all, use it differently or use it more regularly or more frequently. 

Fewer abortions
And that would make perfect sense: as various studies have shown, such low-threshold access to protection in combination with sexual education leads to a significant reduction in abortions. 

Long-term contraception in particular, such as the pill or the IUD, is expensive and "simply not affordable" for many women, says study author Sylvia Gaiswinkler from Gesundheit Österreich GmbH.

Contraception should actually be the job of both.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/drubig-photo )

Free protection only in isolated cases
However, contraceptives are only provided free of charge in this country through individual initiatives: for example, up to three free condoms per day are available at the Aidshilfe Wien center or the IUD is available at a reduced price through the Austrian Society for Family Planning (ÖGF) for women at risk of poverty.

In general, contraception is still a private matter in Austria. The UN Committee on Women's Rights (CEDAW) recommended back in 2019 that access to abortions and contraceptives should be guaranteed and covered by health insurance. This is only possible in some exceptional cases, such as endometriosis.

There is also a lack of counseling
As far as access to information on the topic of protection is concerned, contraceptive advice in Austria is also only covered by health insurance for young people up to the age of 18. Although some places offer free advice, the service is not available to everyone.

According to the survey, most women visit a gynaecologist for information and advice (75.9 percent) - but this is immediately followed by "Dr. Google": 42.6 percent of the women surveyed stated that they use search engines. 27.7 percent ask a friend or relative and 27.3 percent read information websites about contraception. 

Condoms, the pill, the mini-pill and the IUD are in the lead here.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/JPC-PROD )

Behind in EU comparison
Many other EU countries have long offered better access to free contraception, advice and information, with Luxembourg, the UK, France and Belgium leading the way in a comparison of 46 countries. Austria, on the other hand, has lost ten positions since 2017 and has now dropped from tenth place in the ranking to 20th place.

For Gaiswinkler, the results of the survey show a "need to catch up" in areas such as free advice and availability and gender equality; Health Minister Johannes Rauch sees a "clear call to action to address the issue".

In a nutshell

• The Contraception Report 2024 is based on a survey of 1005 women between the ages of 14 and 45 in the period from October 27 to November 13 of the previous year.
• The website of the women's information center "femail" in Vorarlberg can be reached here .

Pilot project in Vorarlberg
That's why a pilot project is being launched in autumn: around 3,500 women and girls aged 14 and over in Vorarlberg will receive free contraceptives of their choice and free advice via "femail Fraueninformationszentrum Vorarlberg" from autumn 2024 to the end of 2026. 

One million euros are available for the time being; an evaluation will be carried out after one year. The aim is to create a nationwide counseling and care model.