How U.S. Women Prefer to Control Their Fertility

A new report issued by the Centers for Disease Control revealed what type of contraception women in the U.S. prefer in comparison to our international counterparts. 

Overall, the most preferred method for contraception remains the Pill, with about 16% of U.S women surveyed. This method is even more popular in other countries, with a rate of 29% in the United Kingdom and a whopping 40% in the Netherlands.

One surprisingly statistic I learned was that 1 in 4 married U.S. women opt for tubal ligation, or more commonly known as sterilization. This rate was significantly lower in other industrialized countries surveyed, with some below 10%.

When it comes to controlling our fertility, it seems that American women overwhelmingly choose between the pill and getting our tubes tied. This is remarkable considering the new methods introduced in recent decades, including the Patch, NuvaRing, and Implanon.

The report also revealed that IUDs (intrauterine devices) were making some sort of a comeback in regards to use in the U.S. Between 2002 and 2006–2008, there was an increase in IUD use among women with one or two children. IUD use increased from 2% to 8% among women with one child, and from 3% to 11% of women with two children.

This news is somewhat encouraging for a contraceptive method that I believe is often underutilized and misunderstood.  When I first heard about IUDs, it wasn’t in my human sexuality course in high school (like all the other methods), but when I was a freshman in college. I was researching pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) for one of my community health classes and read an abundant amount of information that associated IUDs as an increased risk. Also, the thought of a “device” in my uterine cavity caught me off-guard and didn’t exactly make me embrace this method. 

My ignorance led me to believe that IUDs are not optimal birth control methods and that they ultimately can lead to PID. After enrolling in another human sexuality course my senior year of college, I learned that the risk of PID with IUDs is only increased in the presence of sexually transmitted diseases.

Since my senior year of college, I have met many women, both married and unmarried, mothers and non-parents, who have shared their positive experiences with the IUD. They have expressed that once “it’s in there,” there’s no more daily or weekly hassle of remembering to take their contraceptive medication. Also, those that utilized the copper IUD (Paragard) informed me that it helped eradicate those uncomfortable side effects they may have encountered when using hormonal contraceptives.

This method can also be more cost-effective than more common methods. Although the price ranges between $175 and $650 for the device and insertion, it can actually cost less in the long run than purchasing pills monthly or getting a shot every three months. The progestin-releasing IUD (Mirena) can be left in place for up to five years and the copper-T (Paragard) is slated to be effective for around 10 years.

My initial ignorance and anxiety about this contraceptive led me to be misinformed and apprehensive about another method of birth control. I can assume the same exists for women who aren’t too spirited about the idea of the NuvaRing or even Implanon or those who are still skeptical about a Patch delivering hormones through their skin.

Since there has been an increase in IUD usage, the equivalent may occur for other birth control options that are not as popular as the Pill. I’m not advocating for one over the other, but I am sharing how lack of knowledge or apprehension could preclude us from trying something new to control our fertility.

Who knows? Maybe one day, a lot more women will be rocking the Patch or maybe diaphragms will make a comeback. I guess we’ll find out with the next round of surveys and reports.

Links:

http://www.cdc.gov/NCHS/data/series/sr_23/sr23_029.pdf

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/190207.php

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37358666/

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/birth-control/iud-4245.htm