Oral contraception among special clinic patients. With particular reference to the diagnosis of gonorrhoea.

The continued and disproportionate rise in new cases of gonorrhoea in females reported from the treatment centres of England and Wales has led to the suggestion that the greater availability of contraceptive measures which can be practised by the female has led to an increase in promiscuity (Observer, 1968). On the other hand, Willcox (1965) has suggested that the general stability and safety of our society, leading to a loss of excitement and incentive, may be a factor in the recent increase in promiscuity. Support for this concept may be found in the fact that some girls deliberately become pregnant out of wedlock as a personal rebellion against the establishment (Franklin, 1966). As Inman and Vessey (1968) pointed out, there are no accurate figures for the total consumption of oral contraceptive agents, but using their figures and taking a figure of 21 million as the total female population aged 15-44 years in England, Wales, and Scotland, the overall incidence of women on the pill would be 4 to 5 per cent.