Up against bad PR and a lack of awareness, reproductive health groups are leading the charge to make the IUD a first line of defense against unplanned pregnancy. It won’t be easy.
Most women have been there: sitting in their gynecologist’s office, having yet another unsatisfying conversation about yet another unsatisfying form of birth control, wanting to try something new.
The IUD is a very small T-shaped rod inserted by a doctor into the uterus, where it emits either the hormone progestin or copper, both of which are hostile to sperm. There are three FDA-approved IUDs available in the U.S.—Mirena and Skyla, which are hormonal, and ParaGard, which is wrapped in copper coils—and they are all extremely effective, with a failure rate of less than one pregnancy per 100 women—compared with 9 per 100 women on the Pill.
So why the slow rate of adoption in the U.S.? It’s largely due to the fact that the IUD is still the subject of widespread misconceptions. The device is plagued by a troubled history dating back to the ’70s, when an earlier version of the device called the Dalkon Shield was yanked from the market after being linked to infertility and infections. Current versions are smaller and far safer, with almost none of the risks, but the stigma is hard to erase—both among women and also among the physicians who prescribe birth control.
“IUDs help women work on other parts of their life before they’re ready to have kids,” says Louise Cohen, vice president of Public Health Solutions. “We want to increase the degree to which women learn about them—whether through a physician or social media—and we will have them readily available when they want them.”
PLEASE READ MORE: The IUD: The Best Form of Birth Control is the One No One is Using
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