Was the Pill's 21/7 regime really invented to please the Pope?
Critics say the seven day break has always been unnecessary but was introduced in the hope it would make the Pill acceptable to the Catholic Church. But are the claims true?
5th February 2019
By Kemal Atlay
A few weeks back new UK guidelines came out advising women on combined oral contraceptives that the pill could safely be taken daily without the monthly, seven-day, hormone-free break.
The idea that the 21/7 regimen was outdated and unnecessary probably wasn’t global news. But then Professor John Guillebaud, a reproductive expert from University College London, lit the media touch paper by declaring the placebo regime has never had a clinical rationale.
“How could it be that for 60 years we have been taking the pill in a suboptimal way because of this desire to please