Letter: Happy to pay

JOAN Smith states (4 January) that to reimpose charges for the contraceptive pill would risk increasing the numbers of single mothers and abortions. She needs to explain therefore why a country which provides free contraceptives has one of the highest rates of unwanted pregnancy (however defined) in the whole of Europe, far higher than before the policy began nearly 25 years ago.

The truth is that contraceptive use is only minimally related to whether people have to pay. I believe that the vast majority of contraceptive users would be perfectly happy to pay a charge, provided the amount saved was devoted to medical care for the sick.

Alan Pavelin

Chislehurst, Kent