What if I told you there was a birth control out there that was 99% effective, didn't require daily maintenance, and wouldn't have the hormonal side effects that you're used to in the Pill? Yeah. I'd laugh in my face, too. Because if such a magical thing existed, we'd be all beating a path to the doctor for a prescription, right?
Wrong.
Meet the IUD (intrauterine device), the simple to use, long-lasting, reversible, hormone-free, economical birth control that's only used by about 2% of American women, despite huge popularity with our European cousins.
So why are American women missing the boat on this?
In her recent article on Slate.com, Kate Klonick delves into this very notion, trying to understand America's fear of/hatred for/confusion about the IUD.
The major reason why women in the United States aren't using IUDs and doctors aren't recommending them is due to the erroneous belief that they're highly dangerous," says Dr. Katharine O'Connell, a gynecologist at Columbia University who specializes in contraception. Many in my mother's generation remember the IUD's heyday, when the contraceptive was linked to the horrors of pelvic infection, hysterectomy, and possible death. That negative rap stems from a particular device known as the Dalkon Shield. Heavily marketed in the early 1970s, it was the most popular model in the United States until a number of deaths from septic miscarriages caused the manufacturer to halt sales.
Well, that explains us ladies. But why aren't doctors stepping up and offering the IUD as a possible method? Klonick reports that:
A recent study published in the medical journal Contraception surveyed premedical students in the United States and Canada. It found that 96 percent of education on contraception focused on oral contraceptive pills; 76 percent of those surveyed were taught about IUDs. Many medical schools limit their classes on contraception to one lecture, says O'Connell, leaving insertion and removal of an IUD to be taught during rotation, if it's taught at all.
This lack of training can leave many doctors feeling uncomfortable recommending the once-controversial devices to their patients, which might explain why only 58 percent of family-planning clinics in the United States offer the IUD. Certain doctors who do know how to insert and remove an IUD still refuse to recommend it to childless patients because of the device's checkered history. I experienced this with the first two doctors I visited. Though recent scholarship shows that the risk of an IUD creating infertility is almost nonexistent, some doctors prefer to insert them in patients already known to be fertile--so the IUD (and the doctor) can't be blamed for any future infertility.
Klonick talks briefly about the marketing of two new IUDs - ParaGard (non-hormonal) and Mirena - but when the only reason the general public knows of them is through the marketing departments of Duramed and Bayer respectively, then our doctors are not doing their jobs. Which means that women are going to have to fend for themselves. After many failed attempts at getting the right birth control, Klonick finally took to the Internet, arming herself with the IUD knowledge she needed. And while it took her "four months, three doctors, and a $40 co-pay to get my IUD...it was worth every minute, visit, and nickel".
Ladies, get thee to Google. The IUD may not be right for you, but it's almost certain that your doctor isn't going to help you figure that out unless you bring it up first. And doctors in general aren't going to add the IUD to their birth control arsenal without women demanding that they do. Research your options and speak up - word of mouth is a powerful tool, so let's start using it to our advantage here.
What about the fact that IUD's are significantly less effective when used by women who have never had a child? Hormonal contraceptives are more effective to this demographic, which may be why many doctors prefer to suggest them.
What exactly is the purpose of contraception? Sexual freedom? Hardly. All contraception does is make us slaves to our sexual desires by removing the NATURAL consequence of pregnancy. REAL sexual freedom is the mastery of sexual desire so we can use reason and intellect to determine how we express ourselves sexually, preferably within the context a committed natural marital relationship.
Sexual Freedom? Since when is that a bad thing? How about the ability to be intimate with your partner without the possibility of getting pregnant with a baby you don't want or can't take care of? Intimacy and Sex enhance a healthy relationship and lead to healthy families. I guess you are trying to say you like to judge people who are not married to an opposite gender person...there are all types of committed relationships wherein sex is a healthy bonding, loving, fun, enhancing part of life. I agree risky sex, promiscuous sex shouldn't be promoted but neither should rigid, narrow and hurtful definitions of acceptable relationships. I for one am grateful someone is looking into why IUDs aren't being used in the USA and hope this research will help make them more widely accepted and available.
Are IUD's significantly less effective when used by women who have never had a child? I have never heard that.
Ummm, Joel...Puritanical much? How about pleasure as a natural consequence to sexual relationships? How about intimacy? How about informed decision-making? And I would just love to hear your definition of "natural" marital relationship.
In becoming educated about IUDs be sure you consider that the IUD does not prevent conception which birth control pills, NuvaRing, DepoPreva, and condoms and foams/jellies do. The IUD prevents implantation of conception. Every month the female will likely conceive, and every month the fertilized egg will be unable to implant because the IUD will prevent it, and the lining will shed, along with the products of conception. This is not to give an opinion whether one person should consider it or not - you should know your feelings about "when does life begin" and be able to know exactly how your birth control works. The new IUDs are much safer than previous, but the concept works the same.
REAL sexual freedom, as I described, is beautiful and empowering. The notion that sex is the only form of intimacy is woefully misguided. Until we all stop treating sexual activity as a form of entertainment rather than as the deepest expression of true love and the life-giving means to fulfillment, our hyper-sexualized culture will continue to encourage us objectify ourselves by viewing each other as instruments of pleasure, thus denying each of us our inherent dignity.
For some nonbiased evidenced-based consumer education about intrauterine devices, check out the following links:
on IUDS:
http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp014.cfm
On implants, injections, rings & patches
http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp159.cfm