UK Government Spokesperson Links Tinder and Unwanted Pregnancies

A member of the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care has criticised Tinder for playing a role in the rise of unwanted pregnancies among women in their 30s.

Women in the UK aged 30-39 had just under 60,000 abortions in 2017, an increase of approximately 20% in one decade. In contrast, data revealed the number of teenage abortions has been steadily declining during the same 10-year period.

Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price said that women were splitting up with long-term partners and entering more casual relationships through the dating app without using contraception properly.

She explained in a press conference on women’s health: “We’re laughing and talk about the Tinder generation now, but what tends to happen is you have women leaving one relationship and then playing the field again, entering the market again.

“That’s actually when unplanned pregnancy tends to happen. There’s an education point there which is please continue to look after your fertility”.

She continued on to say that the focus of abortion-prevention is no longer on teenagers but rather the “Tinder Generation”. Tinder’s main target demographic is 18-25 year olds.

Healthcare professionals in Derbyshire have started handing out free condoms to over-60s to try and reduce the number of STI cases in that cohort. The increasing popularity of senior dating apps was named as a contributing factor there.

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