The Dutch government has dropped its controversial plan to make women pay for the contraceptive pill. The plan would have removed oral contraception for adult women from basic health insurance as part of a pounds sterling35m savings package. The U turn follows pressure from contraception experts who argued that the move would damage the Netherlands' international reputation for the lowest rates of abortion and unwanted teenage pregnancies in the world.

The plan had also provoked a public campaign by women's groups, immigrant bodies, and political parties who feared that it could lead to an extra 5000 abortions a year. Some women, especially among risk groups such as women from Surinam and Morocco, would stop using the pill, it was argued. A …