A new study has found that women who drink up to twice the weekly recommended amount of alcohol are more likely to need emergency contraception treatments.

A study conducted at The University College London has suggested that alcohol may be leading to an increase in the amount of girls using the morning after pill, as well as other forms of emergency contraception. The study also found that women who binge drink are also more likely to undergo abortions.

The research team studied around 25,000 subjects, looking at how alcohol is affecting women’s sex lives. They found that the amount of teenage girls who admitted that alcohol caused them to lose their virginity has doubled in the last six years.

The report, which was published on Friday, revealed that the subjects who drank over their recommended weekly allowance were 1.8% more likely to have used the morning after pill at least once last year.

“Alcohol misuse is now a huge problem and is costing the NHS millions every year”, said Dr Sarah Jarvis, of the Royal College of General Practitioners. “I have seen an increase in patients at my surgery with alcohol problems and from young women requiring emergency contraception over the last few years” said Dr Jarvis.

Since its approval, the morning after pill has helped many couples to prevent against unplanned pregnancies. Only recently, a new form of the treatment, the ella, was approved by the Food and Drugs Administration.

Whilst an increase in the amount of teenagers using contraception is seen as a progressive improvement by many, the amount of abortions that are being undergone by young women has led to much concern. Women who drank more than advised were shown to be 1.4 times more likely to have undergone at least 1 abortion over the last 18 months.

“These findings reinforce the fact that parents can never afford to take a casual, laid-back approach to alcohol”, said Norman Wells, who is the director of Family and Youth Concern.