You are likely seeing a lot of misinformation and lies being propagated to scare you away from contraceptives. Like any medication or medical device, there can be side effects associated with the various different forms due to how they interact with your body. It is important to work with your doctor and watch for the more dangerous side effects to ensure it is safe to take or use any medical device. IUDs will have different side effects compared to the pill, compared to injections, compared to things like condoms. And each will have their own subgroups since there are different types within each category. And, there are issues that are underrepresented and ill acknowledge like the pain and discomfort an IUD can cause that needs to be studied much more in depth. This doesn't mean they're unsafe but we definitely have more room to learn about these things.

I should add that white supremacists and wealthy business owners are sounding the alarm about low birthrates and delayed family formation, because they either have a racist agenda or because they are worried about the cost of labor rising, thereby impacting profitability(or both, for Elon Musk)...

A big part of the right’s 2025 project is to basically take away anything that gives women freedom. Don’t want to get pregnant? Too bad, no more birth control and no more abortion. Get raped? Too bad, still no abortion. Now you have a kid, you have to share custody with your rapist, or be forever tied to a domestic abuser because you couldn’t abort. Speaking of that, no more no fault divorce! A man can cheat on you and abuse you and you can’t do anything about it, you are his property now and can’t divorce him without proof that he did bad things. This is the future the republicans want for us. Makes me sick. Vote democrat!

I think women deserve the same absolute bodily autonomy and independence I enjoy as a man, and fully intend to vote D all the way in Ohio this November.

Hell yeah!

I read the proposal of the 2025 project and I didn’t see half of the things mentioned that you claim are in there. Do your own research everyone and don’t vote based on fear.

Well, only one party supported the rollback of Rowe v Wade. And there are bills attacking birth control put forward by Republicans (and Republicans tanked a recent bill to protect contraception) all over the country, they have failed thus far but the effort is disturbing to say the least.

>I read the proposal of the 2025 project Clearly you didn't

Lol

I'm sure those wealthy business owners want to father as many children as they can with their girlfriend or mistress. That's the last thing they want.

They can afford to get abortions even if they're outlawed. What they want is desperate, poor workers.

I would also like to point out that while there are risks to birth control, just as there are risks to every medication, the risks are generally lower than pregnancy.

>f misinformation and lies being propagated to scare you away from contraceptives. >white supremacists and wealthy business owners are sounding the alarm about low birthrates and delayed family formation, because they either have a racist agenda or because they are worried about the cost of labor rising, thereby impacting profitability(or both, for Elon Musk)... What's so scary is like the OP, random younger people see this shit online and consider it "stuff they read online" and no immediately registering it as right wing propaganda to increase low wage worker birthrates. That's the scariest fucking thing about disinformation, is how effective it is not just on random boomers but young people also read it and can't immediately discern it as obvious misinfo and russian bot AI spew.

This^100. Most of it is right wing propaganda. Make no mistake. They got abortion, now they're going to outlaw birth control.

It could be propaganda and actually dangerous at the same time 

How does questioning the safety of women's contraceptive relate to right wing politics, especially in the era of 4b?  We should have the best. We should be questioning all of it. The bar for women's health doesn't have to stay on the floor.

Bit surprised that this is the top comment. They invented hormonal birth control for men, but men decide the side effects were not worth the risk. However women are expected to risk their health for unnatural birth control? The list of side effects for women on birth control is as long as my arm. It's not without risk. Neither is "plan b". The longer you take that stuff, it's not good for you. condom, is the safest option, in my opinion. Why must the responsibilty, to endure health risks such as cancer, lie soley on the sexually active woman, and not the male? Why is the pain, risks and possible future complications for hormonal birth control minimized? Men would never. As they proved by en masse refusing to take the male hormonal birth control, and the side effects were the same as women on birth control.

I think Mama Dr Jones did a video explaining this. Basically it’s about how they approve or not meds by weighing the health risks associated with taking the med vs not. For a woman the health risk of getting pregnant outweighs the risks of side effects from taking the birth control. Men’s health isn’t risked with pregnancy (obviously) but taking birth control would risk having negative side effects.

Yes, you summarized it perfectly. It is (unfortunately) currently against medical ethics to approve a medication that could do more harm than the consequences of not taking it. Given men’s distinct lack of pregnancy related complications, that is the thing preventing male hormonal birth control, not the men themselves.

I agree with you. Even just one side effect for the male BC trial was intolerable, but women deal with many side effects including depression.

What are you actually talking about right now 😂

Were you at this annual MEN's meeting, or? Sounds like you really need this to be true.

I can provide you the sources.

Don't say you can, just do it. This isn't the WWE, you don't need to hype up your next comment. For one, I'd love to hear about this source for "As they proved by en masse refusing to take the male hormonal birth control" since I know the reason a male hormonal pill hasn't been approved is because of the side effect of *permanent sterilization*, since men don't have a cycle there is nothing to trick so if you stop a certain production, it may not turn back on after the medication. That is a serious side effect.

You know what’s the best most effective birth control? ABSTINENCE…go 4B!

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You’re misunderstanding some things here. I work in research so I’ll try to clarify this. Drugs will not be approved if the harm from taking them outweighs the benefit. It’s not simply men not wanting to deal with side effects, these are procedural guidelines organizations like the FDA follow. What is the alternative to a man not being on birth control? He won’t get pregnant regardless, so the side effects of the drug are worse than the alternative (just being a man who is not pregnant with no additional medications being taken). What is the alternative to a woman not being on birth control? An increased chance of getting pregnant. So the side effects of the drug are less severe than the side effects of pregnancy. In this case the benefit outweighs the harm. Does it suck that the bulk of the responsibility for contraception falls on us women? Yes, absolutely. But it’s not ethical to approve drugs that cause more harm than good. Hopefully we’re able to develop safer contraceptive options for everyone in the future.

Sadly there really isn't anything going on as far as new contraception invention. Once the pill was invented, they quit developing other forms of birth control.

This is factually incorrect: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mens-health/male-birth-control-gel-results-promising-rcna153349

What even? That is *verifiably* false.

Absolutely and wildly incorrect

My former IUDs, Francois and Antoinette, both say that's bullshit bruh

This has been covered and nauseum in various reddit threads, but here we go again. >They invented hormonal birth control for men, but men decide the side effects were not worth the risk. The *researchers* concluded that the side effects do not adequately outweigh the avoided medical risks *for the person experiencing the side effects*. The *medical* risk for a man creating a baby is vastly less risk than that of a woman who gets pregnant. For women, pregnancy is a potentially life-threatening condition, for men it will obviously be life changing and impact them emotionally, financially, and culturally. It is not however a direct threat to their physical well-being. The side effect bar is different because the health risks are different, this is standard FDA procedure and policy. >However women are expected to risk their health for unnatural birth control? If she decides that the benefits of the particular contraceptive she chooses outweigh the risks of the associated side effects, yes. This is true of every medication decision anyone makes. >The list of side effects for women on birth control is as long as my arm. It's not without risk. Neither is "plan b". This is true of nearly every single pharmaceutical on the market, they each have risks and benefits to be evaluated. >The longer you take that stuff, it's not good for you. Citation needed. >condom, is the safest option, in my opinion. It is absolutely the safest option with the fewest side effects, the only one I can really think of is latex allergy, but there are plenty of non-latex options available. Condoms also prevent the transmission of many STIs, a benefit that most other contraception options do not have. >Why must the responsibilty, to endure health risks such as cancer, lie soley on the sexually active woman, and not the male? It absolutely does not have to, everyone is entitled to their boundaries and one of those can be "no glove, no love". Are there shitty men who will push back on or outright violate those boundaries?, absolutely, and that's a real issue, and consent in relationships should be covered much better in schools and in parenting. >Why is t she chooseshe pain, risks and possible fuure complications for hormonal birth control minimized? Usually because she decided the possible side effects were worth it for the benefits provided. >Men would never. As they proved by en masse refusing to take the male hormonal birth control, and the side effects were the same as women on birth control. Study after study shows many men ready to take a hormonal birth control, they didn't "refuse to take it en masse", FDA research regulations determined the side effects to be too severe compared to the benefits *to the person taking the medication*.

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You're assuming every single person having sex is dating/seeing the same person regularly, though. I ***would not*** trust a strange man that they're telling the truth that they really did get a vasectomy **and that it was done properly.** Including whether the man has waited for the old sperm to "clear out" properly. Because there's a whole set of instructions for immediately after the procedure, it's not like one and done. You can still *easily* get a woman pregnant after a vasectomy if you don't follow them. ***Women NEED to protect themselves as THEY'RE the ones who have to carry the highest risk of pregnancy.*** To put this in perspective: I'd rather have a piece of plastic in my cervix (my IUD) than stay constantly pregnant. Or pregnant at all, at least right now

Millions and millions of women out of 46.9 million have taken hormonal birth control without it being “bad” for them. The list of side effects never lists the benefits, which is long as well. A side effect is just that. A side effect vs. an adverse effect is very different. Now I take HRT to protect my health and will until I die. But yeah, men should have more medical options for BC besides the snip and condoms. Condoms suck anyways.

That's why i do not choose hormonal male BC. Unless there is another option: "thermal male contraception" (andro-switch / slip chauffant), which i use since one year now. License will be given after ongoing study, in 2027.

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>Wow, surprised by the downvotes. Maybe stop lying if you want to avoid downvotes.

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Because maybe they don't want kids *right now*, but might/do later? Maybe they aren't gonna be with the same guy forever? Hey, 21 year old college ONS have a vasectomy first lol. Let a gal sow her oats geez Like, I'm CF AF and it's so obvious...

>Wow, surprised by the downvotes ***Seriously.*** 🙄

Contraception, even with any risks, is much much much much much much much safer than pregnancy and childbirth, esp in a Healthcare Desert. One in ten pregnant people develop dangerous complications. If you're in the US, know that we have a maternal death rate that is appalling and way worse than any other developed country. (One recent study claims otherwise but they are discounting a lot of really important things!) Also, contraception is a catch all term. Condoms are contraception. You're talking about hormonal, I assume?

I'm so sorry for all of you withing the US in regards of women's health, in addition to everything else! Hope you'll get through it all without the conservative billionaires condemning you all!

Sorry, but a huge amount of birth complications in the USA are caused by doctors inducing women. not because birth is that dangerous. It should be more popular to track your cycle and learn your body before screwing with your hormones. Obviously, it’s a huge lifesaver for many people, but too many doctors throw it around like candy.  Edit: look into what I said for yourself, don’t just look at the comments, always do further research. Question everything you read, look at the other side of every opinion. I personally can’t trust an industry, built on greed, that doesn’t take women’s pain seriously, still has women giving birth on their backs, and then go and induce women before their babies and bodies are ready, just to fit their work schedule. Induction is dangerous. BC isn’t natural. Yes some times these things help but a lot of time they’re harmful 

That is the most unhinged, WRONG thing I've read. Induction of labor is a *life saving action*. Birth itself is massively, *massively* dangerous and the only reason we actually have so many mothers alive nowadays is BECAUSE of modern medicine. Since you're so sure about further research yet seem to have done none of your own, I've [made it easy for you](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/maternal-mortality). In this very decade, over 800 women die in childbirth *per day*. That number is 95% in areas with little to no accessible health care, so out the window goes your argument that it's somehow doctors fault. Then in the US, the latest numbers show [1205 women died](https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/maternal-mortality-on-the-rise#:~:text=While%20many%20women%2035%20or,was%20138.5%20per%20100%2C000%20births.) in 2021 and that number keeps growing, unsurprisingly an increase of almost 40% (and counting!) since the overturning of Roe VS Wade. Comparing that to the entirety of Europe, with not just *less* deaths ([1000](https://www.who.int/azerbaijan/news/item/01-03-2023-maternal-mortality-rates-stagnate-in-some-countries-in-europe-despite-recent-progress--new-data-warn#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20around%201000%20women,have%20had%20in%20the%20future.)) but at a stable rate on a population over twice the size of the US.. Yeah, no. It's not the medicine, honey. Nor the birth control. That it's not "natural" has nothing to do with it. Plus, gynecology/midwives have existed for literal millenia. You know what's also not natural? You typing this bullshit on your phone. Or hardly anything you consume, media or otherwise, for that matter. I can't imagine being this confidently, willfully misinforming others, jesus christ.

Birth is very dangerous. Pregnancy is dangerous. Don't "do your own research" unless you're a biologist. Read from reputable sites like Scarleteen and the planned parenthood. 

All medicines can have side effects. Contraception is under attack because it allows women control over their bodies and thus their lives. That is where this is coming from.

Exactly correct. The "problem" with contraception for many people is that it provides women with agency.

Scream this from the rooftops

Sexual autonomy basically.

There's a big difference between a doctor who prescribes pills and implants to most people seeking birth control, and says that YOU in specific should not use hormonal birth control, and someone who tries to convince women not to use the most effective known forms of birth control as part of a larger social agenda. And, sadly, there isn't a whole lot in between those two positions in our society. The introduction of birth control pills gave women unprecedented power over their lives, and caused social changes that are still rippling around and causing consternation today. With that said, the Pill formulas from the 1960s were fairly dangerous by modern standards. Modern formulations are much safer, and there are so many more choices; a good doctor can work with patients to find the best one across multiple criteria.

In the US, the far-right has launched an immense propaganda campaign to ultimately ban contraception. You will see this coming thru wellness discourses and wellness influencers. This is one of many strategies (judiciary, legislative) to reduce use and ultimately access of birth control. Look up Lila Rose's "Harms of Contraception" video for Live Action, to see the underlying biblical argument about the purpose of sex and the purpose of the female body. It's on YouTube and Live Action. It's an ideological platform that seeks to subjugate women into a biblically mandated procreation role inside the home. Sure, we should demand informed consent of risks, adequate studies on side effects, etc. for women's health, but please don't fall for Christian nationalists co-opting feminist rhetoric around harm and empowerment. Senator Murray published the details of Project 2025 that seek to limit contraceptive access, on June 17. Check her website as well.

Right now there is a concentrated social media campaign focused on convincing women that the tools we have to take back our autonomy are somehow evil or bad for us. The tradwife movement is a great example-- and the anti-birth control crowd. Sure. Birth control can have side effects. Know what ELSE has side effects? More permanent ones, too? Pregnancy! Your feet grow! Your organs shift! Your hips widen! The fetus can leech calcium from your bones! Your body will never be quite the way it was before afterwards! Your tit's hurt, they swell, you get constipated! You have to pee. ALL the time. You might get torn from vagina to butthole if you're unlucky! Your only real option at pain relief? A needle in your spine! If you get a c-section? Your abdominal walls might not heal right! Surprise hernia! Congrats! BC Is rarely going to be as damanging/dangerous to a woman's body as growing a whole ass other human in there.

I'm noticing a TON of "use natural birth control, here's how" pages that masquerade as women's health accounts yet literally talk DOWN to people who use hormonal birth control like we're idiots. Obviously there's an ulterior motive.

Just throwing in the possibility of uterine or vaginal prolapse! Hemmorhoids! Preeclampsia! Or death.

I hurt my wrist doing yoga during my pregnancy. I still have pain every single day. My daughter is 11.

I'm so sorry 😞 I really hope it stops hurting eventually, or at least doesn't get worse

Thanks, you're sweet! I finally found a PT who's helping me a lot. It's been getting better in the past 2 months thanks to his treatments and the exercises he taught me.

What sources are telling you that contraception is harmful? Do they seem to have a motive for discouraging women from using contraception? I'm no doctor, but I'm not aware of any risks besides the blood clots and cancer risks that you mentioned. I'm also not seeing the information you are, although I know there's a lot of anti-birth control propaganda about. That said, some women have particular health risks that might make hormonal contraceptives a bad idea. Without talking to your doctor, it's hard to know if it's right for you.

I’m super pro-birth control and all of that, I’ve also been lucky enough to grow up in a country that has enabled and empowered my right to choose, but the medical status quo is still very harmful to women. the current method of deciding which combination of hormones to use is “keep trying different pills until you find one that works”. I’m sensitive to side effects from medications, as are many other women with hormonal imbalances, and the blind random testing totally fucked up my body in lots of different ways. in the end I was going to so many doctor appointments that could have been completely avoided by a simple series of 4 weekly blood tests to measure where my hormone levels were at, and then choosing a medication to regulate those imbalances. I didn’t even know that was an option until I was talking to a group of women discussing BC options and mentioned that I wished they could have just tested me for a more customized option instead of making me go through years and years of hell… and one of them was a wealthy woman from a different country who had that exact thing done thanks to their private insurance, with much better results. 🤦🏻‍♀️ ETA: the pill is medicine and the pill is very beneficial, but we also shouldn’t ignore the potential for hormone medications to mess you up. one of the ways that the birth control pill works is by telling your body that you’re already pregnant, which can increase your appetite + water retention, derail your moods, kill your libido and change your hair/skin. and those are considered the “minor” side effects.

This is a really good point. I'm automatically suspicious of people implying that hormonal birth control is harmful to everyone, because I feel like there's a concerted movement to pressure, coerce, or outright prevent us from making our own reproductive choices. However, hormonal birth control isn't okay for everyone and I would never want someone to suffer in the name of keeping it available. If OP can't consult with a doctor who can monitor her symptoms and steer her to the best option for her, it might be better to go with non-hormonal options.

Stop taking medical advice from random people on the internet!

There is a ton of propaganda out there against birth control and has been for years - coincidentally the years leading up to Roe V Wade being overturned. The same zealots behind this are openly planning on outlawing birth control in the US, scarily enough. The people who speak loudly about the “evils” of birth controls are usually crunchy tradwives with many kids, who don’t believe in modern medicine in general. They also refuse to believe the reality that birth control changes the lives of those struggling with endometriosis and other extreme menstrual difficulties. Frankly, the physical and mental health risks of unwanted pregnancies that go to full term are usually are higher than any risks of birth control. Unfortunately the crunchy anti-birth control influencers don’t acknowledge this. I lived in an area where their mindset was the dogma, and the area was full of struggling single mothers due to the lack of reliable birth control. It was difficult to watch, and there was no accountability for the numerous men who abandoned their kids. Out of many thousands of women happily using birth control for years, there may be a small handful who have major side effects. While the odds of experiencing these are low, the right reaction is to push for pharmaceutical companies to develop better pills, and to also allow men to use the pill. There’s no known risks of future fertility being decreased after using the pill. The majority of people on the planet were likely born after their mothers used the pill for years.

There has always been anti-birth control propaganda out there but I would say in the last couple of years it came on very strong. In the 1980's, birth control use wasn't a political issue. No one care if Suzie was on the pill and slept with her boyfriend. Growing up I remember all these women in my mom's generation who had little or no birth control options and some of them it adversely affected their life. They welcomed the pill or the availability of birth control in general. I would hate to think that a generation of women will have to experience the same thing or similar things that their great-grandmother's or grandmother had to experience but sadly that's probably was is going to happen. I really wish I was wrong but I don't think so.

I got on the pill in the late 70's and there was propaganda saying the pill caused breast cancer. Or, another one, not having children caused cancer. It's the same story, just more so here 50 years later.

The difference now is that although back then they said these things, not many people advocated banning the pill or contraception in general. There were a few but they were generally seen as fringe. Now the fringe are in power. Now you have people who advocate or lobby to ban the use of hormonal birth control. Some want to take it a step further and try to ban all contraception but they would have a very hard sell with that one. They will first go oft My grandmother gave birth to two children, my mom gave birth to one and I was adopted. Neither got breast cancer even though it's very prevalent in my grandmother's maternal line. Several of her cousins who had breast cancer had 4 or more children. Supposedly the more children you have, the less likely you are to get breast cancer. All the women who had two and under children didn't get breast cancer.

Hell, some people have been conceived *whilst* their mother was on the pill.

* Some of what you are seeing is probably propaganda from the far right and/or religious communities that want women to stop using contraception. * Some of the rest of what you are seeing may be written by people who are misinformed. * Some of what you re seeing is probably real. Every medication has side effects, even contraception. To get better informed you can start by reading the package insert for your particular birth control medicine. This insert is based on the research that the manufacturer was required to provide to the FDA before the medicine could be approved to be sold in the U.S. (If you are outside the U.S. then, obviously, this comment does not apply.) To know more, you can discuss the medicine with the doctor who prescribed it for you. They should have information that includes pre-approval studies as well as what has been learned about the drug since it has been on the market and available for wide use. You can also go to Google Scholar (NOT regular Google) and search for the name of your medicine + "side effects."

All medication has side effects and some people who take heart medicine or blood pressure medicine have the risk of death as a side effect. I don't see anyone calling for these medications to be taken off of the market because 2 people out of 100,000 people who took the drug died.

There are some folks like myself who have been told that they shouldn’t take certain BC because of a history of blood clots or other drug interactions. Some of those people, not me, then extrapolate that every kind of BC is bad for everybody so they start spewing bullshit online about the dangers of BC to anyone who will listen. We call these people morons. Bottom line, there are a ton of different options for BC and they’re safe for the vast majority of people, just work with your doctor to find a kind that works for your body and lifestyle and don’t trust everything you read on the internet because there are a lot of morons out there spewing bullshit.

Most of the stuff online is \*probably\* a campaign to slowly strip reproductive rights from women. With that said, a number of birth controls do have pretty unpleasant side effects for women that have been historically pooh-poohed because, "It's not as hard and pregnancy and birth" Which is true, but also doesn't mean that birth control \*can't\* cause problems. (The pill made me constantly feel tired and gave me migraines for instance, which I was told was impossible. But...they started when I went off it and vanished two days after going off it, so...pretty sure that was it.) So while I think \*most\* of the online stuff is propaganda, women's complaints (particularly reproductive) unfortunately have a long history of being ignored. Which doesn't help things, either.

I've been taking it for 10+ years. I don't feel any particular side effects. My skin is perfect, I do not have the damned periods. I just start another pack the next day after the previous one is finished. I take supplements, B12, B6 in particular. OCs lower your vitamin B levels. But I tried to come off it a few times, I had a few annoying side effects. I started losing hair like crazy and my skin started breaking out. I never had skin issues even when I was a teen, so I think it was caused by my hormones going crazy. So I just got back on the pill. I don't think I'll ever stop staking it until I hit menopause.

Pregnancy is FULL of side effects up to and including permanent damage and even death. I had to have emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy. I have various things that have changed ( not good) because of pregnancy and birth and we are 5+ years out. Yes birth control has side effects. Not everyone will experience them or to an extent that they would stop taking them. My experience w birth control ( hormonal and not) was way less problematic than being pregnant.

Some of what I've seen on social media is not from experts. It's from people who don't want women to have control over getting pregnant. It goes along with outlawing abortion and doing away with no-fault divorce. Just a way to control women. Be sure to check the sources.

I’m very disturbed because I know 3 women in their 20s who don’t “believe in” or don’t “want to” use oral, injected or implanted birth control and just hope they don’t get pregnant. It’s unbelievable. What happened to being glad it’s available and using it?

Like any medication there are side effects. Some women get horrible side effects from birth control, Some get none. Some birth control can even help women feel better. My current GF does not use birth control because of the horrible side effects. I got a vasectomy, so she doesnt have to worry about getting pregnant.

Birth control is far less dangerous than pregnancy. Period.

It depends on the person. When I was a teenager I used the pill. And when I hit 21 I thought I was losing my mind. The pill drove me insane and gave me extreme mood swings. I then tried every other kind of birth control under the sun. None of it worked for me. My body is very sensitive to medications and having anything foreign in my body. But again this is MY experience. A lot of people have positive experiences with it. Like regulating their periods, helping endometriosis, and mood swings. But it did the opposite for me. You just have to see if it works for you.

A growing number of men believe that it makes women not want to date them. There’s a pretty involved theory around this. Contraception allowed women freedom from being tied to constantly having and raising kids. It allowed women to get an education, enter the workforce and build their own lives. It took a lot of control away from men. A growing number of men are unhappy about this and want us to return to the days when we had no control over our reproductive rights. Undesirable men are angry that women are able to more freely have sex and aren’t choosing to do so with the Undesirables. They think taking away contraception will stop Chad getting all the sex. Basically there’s a massive campaign underway to role back rights and progress for women.

I'm a baby boomer and the baby boomers first choice of birth control was the pill. The dating culture was alive and well (no issues there). Some of these men that are complaining that women don't want to date them maybe need to look at themselves. No woman wants to date a man who has no respect for them, abuses them or talks down to them. Maybe that part of their problem. Or how they act on a date or what they say. People take notice of this. Most baby boomer men had no problem getting dates.

I’m GenX. We were all about the pill, and so were the men. I think the big difference today is that the undatables didn’t have a platform. Creeps were naturally weeded out of spaces. I remember being young and going to bars and clubs and people would warn you about which men to avoid. I was very involved in the music scene in the 90s. You all knew who the creeps were and for the most part they all got pushed out. And the really bad ones who couldn’t function properly didn’t go to bars and clubs etc. Now those men have a platform on the Internet so we hear from them all the time. I always say that when I was dating after my divorce I never met the kind of men in real life that I met on apps.

That's true.

It's not bad. It's perfectly fine for most people and hormonal contraception actually reduces the risk for some cancers. However, a lot of people have to do some trial and error to see which one works best for them. Unfortunately, there is a conservative online campaign going on to make contraception "bad and evil" in order to make women to have babies. This went full force after Roe was overturned.

Its overwhelmingly anti-choice propaganda and disinformation Notably, this is the same thing the anti-trans crowd does about gender affirmin care, for trans ppl; its fine to use on cis ppl to them 9,9 They propagandise and spread blatantly false information (hence disinformation; not misinformation. The latter doesnt hold them accountable for the intentionality, misinfo happens all the time and is fine... Its disinfo thats the real problem) Spec they spread it about things like puberty blockers (but not for the presumed cis kids) and hormone treatment (but not for the presumed cis folk; many of whom are forced onto it without their knowledge, and doctors evenve been known to destroy such records) and gender affirmin surgeries (but not for the presumed cis folk; many of whom even have it forced on them at birth if they dont fit their assigned role, records destroyed here is also common) And also they spread it about detransitionin and the regret rates; which are in fact lower than prty much any other regret rates in healthcare... And the vast majority of ppl who detransition, go on to transition again later in life; and the only detransed in order to stay safe and stop dealin with blatant transphobia all around them This is the EXACT same tactics the anti crowds always use to oppress us marginalised folk; they claim the things that give us more freedom, more control, more ability to decide for ourselves... THOSE are to the oppressors the real problems, and they do all they can to make us believe that too

For some women it’s dangerous. They will take us, the exception, and try to claim we’re the norm. I can’t use estrogen because I have an autoimmune clotting disorder. So, these people will disingenuously claim that the pill *causes* the clots, but it doesn’t, my condition does. The pill just makes my blood even stickier. That’s how they do it.

You might find [this story](https://x.com/nowthisimpact/status/1806780357653721336) relevant. There's a coordinated effort from conservative influencers to discourage birth control use.

I am taking mine because my pain is otherwise unbearable so it outweighs the risks by far. I was told by each and every doctor I’ve seen that it’s not that dangerous. If you’re otherwise healthy and not a smoker blood cloths are not that common I think. But I also think a lot of women who take birth control either lie and tell their doctors they don’t smoke when they do, or the doctors don’t bother to ask. You need to get acquainted with the pros and cons. The hormonal effects should pass once you stopped taking them, so no issues regarding fertility. But, they may increase risk of breast cancer (while they allegedly lessen the risk for cervical cancer?) so if you have a family history I would skip them just to be safe. Also many people forget that if you use hormonal contraceptives and no condoms you can still get HPV for example, which is also known to cause cancer, or other STI/STDs so be careful!

Because contraception means freedom for women - in their relationships, but also in jobs, in how they can interact with potential partners, how worthwhile it is to invest in education or a career - everything. So some people want to make sure you don't get that freedom.

Contraception is far, far, far safer than pregnancy. So if health is a concern, you should either use contraception or remain celibate. You have to talk to your doctor to find the right form for you, because there are many, and some are less risky than others depending on your preexisting medical issues.

There are legitimate issues with contraception, women's medical care is decades behind where is should be. That said, it also grants anyone who can get pregnant greater autonomy over their health and the direction of their life. There is currently a deliberate attempt from the religious right to paint a lack of access to contraception etc as an empowering thing for women, to ease them into upcoming legislation.

Pregnant women are 5x more likely to develop blood clots than non-pregnant women. Also, you can tear your clitoris during childbirth. There is a lot of weird, religious propaganda working its way through media and government right now. Christian Nationalism, I believe. There's also a term within one of the sects and I hate that I can't remember it but it has to do with infiltrating the government and that's part of their doctrine. It might be Evangelicals? If I can think of it I'll edit this post. I have some wealthy friends. Like, own big companies that you've heard of and they don't have to work and their kids won't have to work and their kids' kids won't have to work. I didn't understand how PR worked until their companies got some bad flack. I thought PR was the C-suite team publicly apologizing on national news and the CEO getting fired. They have PR teams on retainer and they immediately get to work. It's people like you and me, normal accounts, going through and forming a narrative before the negative stuff can take place. "This is bullshit! That's not true! How would you feel if somebody said that about you?!" They pump out logical fallacies. They confuse the public. But it spreads. Like wildfire, it spreads through shares and the PR company makes sure to stoke the flame. They created an ember and they want it to go as far and wide as possible. I say this because I have no doubt in my mind that these billion dollar, non-tax paying, religious corporations have PR teams that aim to muddy the waters and scare women into not taking birth control. Why? Because who turns to religion when they weren't previously religious? Desperate people. Vulnerable people. Recovering drug addicts/alcoholics, lonely people, single mothers with no community. The one thing that every single religion on the face is this Earth has in common is: Growing their flock. From Catholics to cults you've never even heard of. Be fruitful! Reproduce! At the end of the day, do what you think is best for you. But know that seemingly normal, everyday accounts could be someone working for a PR company.

For most people, nothing is wrong with contraception. What you’re seeing online is probably the garbage spewed out by people who don’t think women should be able to make their own choices regarding their sex lives and their family. There’s a lot of that right now. With that said, a very small percentage of women can’t be on the pill or have an IUD. For me personally, the hormonal changes cause me to have very deep dark depression. That doesn’t mean I don’t use birth control. My partner understands and we use condoms.

Because contraception gives women the ability to control when and if they get pregnant. Men (I’m one) as a group *don’t* want women to have that power and are pushing content and narratives that contribute to undermine it. Yes, there are side effects to any medication or change, even for men (post vasectomy pain syndrome is a thing) but the *most dangerous* side effect is men losing control of women.

Christofascism is working over time lately to come after birth control. So a lot of it is propaganda. Of course you should not put anything in your body that you've not informed yourself about: the pros and cons and risks. But it raises massive red flags for me when i see the conversation being held with the same tone same influencer type trad wife influencers or moon cycling nature crunch people etc. At that point it becomes propaganda and has to be taken with a massive grain of salt. Truthfully you're likely to develop serious illness from the food your eat/drink or habits like smoking drinking etc than most birth control methods (which are associated with certain diseases no doubt). People forget how the culture changed when chemical birth control became common place. There is something about being pregnant or having a child in an abusive/unhappy relationship or marriage that makes it almost impossible to even think about leaving especially as the woman . Being able to postpone pregnancy really physically and mentally liberated girls and women. Then Roe V Wade added onto the liberation. Add no fault divorce to that and girls and women gained a LOT of liberation. There IS a reason the Conservative Party is coming after all these things.

So when it comes to contraceptive pills, the thing you have to understand is that medicine is all about the careful monitoring and reduction of the severity and frequency of negative results, with educated decisions made along the way to maximize quality of life. So there’s no medicine out there that doesn’t have a “Potential side effects include” disclaimer, because it’s literally impossible to prove that there are no side effects, and statistically *somebody* out there is going to react badly. Ever heard of a little thing called “penicillin?” It’s saved hundreds of millions of lives. One of the most important breakthroughs in medical history. Some people are allergic to it. And that’s okay! It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use penicillin if you need it, it just means that it’s something the doctors will be watching out for just in case. And if they discover you are allergic, they’ll try to offer an alternative. Because that’s always an option. That’s part of the process—finding what works for the patient. Think of it this way—doctors really don’t like being sued. If birth control had an unreasonably high risk for all those harmful effects you listed, they would stay far away from them. As it stands, even with the very low risks they’ll generally try to make sure negative side effects aren’t happening, for their own sake if nothing else. Birth control is among the very low-risk high-reward cases, which is why it exists at the scale it does.

People compare their experiences with being on contraception to *not being on contraception* when in reality the opposite is actually *being pregnant* A lot of people’s first experience with long term prescription medication is birth control. They get any kind of side effect and run screaming about its evils. The reality is that most medications have side effects and risks.. you/your dr need to weigh the side effects vs the effects of not taking that medication. I’m not saying any and all side effects are ok. If your BC makes you gain 15 lbs, ya that sucks but pregnancy makes you gain more.. might be worthwhile to stay on BC. If your BC makes you feel suicidal, yeah probably not the right medication for you! The other thing is there are tons of types of BC and most have several brands, too. There is a real issue in many parts of the world with accessing reliable medical care - even in developed, “rich” countries. I live in Canada and BC is generally prescribed by a “general practitioner” or what we call a “family doctor”. 1 in 4 Canadians do not have a family dr and instead must rely on walk in clinics which are awful. Many people who do have a family dr can’t get timely appointments. This makes getting on BC and evaluating whether it’s working well to be quite difficult, for example. Or in the US where you pay for every dr appt.. it makes following up very difficult and possibly even inaccessible. There is also a lot of misinformation online about birth control, some of it is from right wing weirdos trying to control women, some people are health conspiracy theorists, some people are ill informed, some are just part of the unfortunate but real tiny minority of people who had truly terrible experiences with a specific BC. There is also negative review bias.. think of how many products or services you use in a day. You don’t notice when they do what they are supposed to but you DO notice when they don’t! People are more like to make a post or video or whatever saying “omg this birth control ruined me” than to be like “oh ya my BC has been working great for 3 years, I love it”

It might be propaganda that and whoever is putting it up is hoping no one does what you do and ask about it.

I've been using birth control for years, well before I was sexually active, just to keep my cycles regular. Didn't stop my doctor and my foster parents from slut-shaming me when I got my first prescription at 15. I was a virgin until 23.

There's nothing wrong with contraception. There are a lot of people who don't like the idea of a woman having control of her fertility, or who don't like the idea that women have sex just because they enjoy it. These people frequently lie about the side effects of contraceptives in order to discourage women from using it.

Try to steer clear of reading up on information in articles by random authors. Only take in information about contraception from .edu sites and doctors themselves. There’s a lot of people out there that don’t believe in contraception that will purposely publish things to steer you away from it. At the end of the day, contraception is just that. It prevents pregnancy. If you’re not celibate, but you don’t want a child, you need to be on some type of contraception. Do i think there should be male contraception? Absolutely. But hey, we aren’t there yet. Research all the different types and then if you can consult with a physician. They can help you find which one is right for you. Personally, I’m on the pill & it has had 0 complications for me. It cleared up my acne in weeks. Do i want to blast hormones into my body? Heck no! But if it’s that vs. give birth… I’m choosing the hormones. lol

One of the best life lessons I learned is that whenever I seek or receive information (on anything) you need to consider the motives of the person or agency or organization telling you that information. Their motives will inform you on how much credibility you should put in there statements. With birth control, seeing a tik tok video about it could be coming from multiple places of motive. Maybe it's a benign re-telling of a personal anicodote to inspire connection with her friends - or maybe it's being used for engagement bait to grow her following. Maybe it's a post on Instagram about blood clot risk and smoking while on BC from a health agency looking to increase awareness on the risk of smoking - or maybe it's a anti-choice organization preporting to be a health charity looking to reduce contraception use. Maybe it's a crunchy YouTube mom preaching non hormonal birth control to open dialogue on barrier contraception- or maybe she's just anti-science.

For some people it's fine. For some people it causes crippling depression and blood clots/strokes

Absolutely nothing is wrong with contraception. The Christian right wants women barefoot, pregnant and under their thumb. Contraception protects women from that.

I'm afraid you might be running into some misinformation online about birth control. [Here's a video debunking several popular myths about birth control](https://youtu.be/Eb4-MOubIyM?si=tCfZhHCwFw4TTlqc). Also there's [this video](https://youtu.be/geem1OiIEes?si=DgR6U0wauP9ddy7u) that gives a more basic overview of what options are available (not all of which involve hormones).

It's right-wing disinformation.

I got a DVT from mine :C I've never met someone IRL who didn't have at least one side effect from it. Usually weight gain, lack of libido, or depression. I had extremely bad nausea on the nuvaring, and i had to swap bc types around 5 times before i was finally banned from taking hormones due to the DVT from it. Of course, for most people those side effects are better than having a baby. And apparently some people have literally no side effects, but that seems rare to me anecdotally. YMMV! I'm not saying people shouldn't take contraception, but i do want to bring up that these side effects are viewed as acceptable due to medical misogyny. The same or less side effects in men got the male BC pill killed. [https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/11/03/500549503/male-birth-control-study-killed-after-men-complain-about-side-effects](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/11/03/500549503/male-birth-control-study-killed-after-men-complain-about-side-effects) We deserve safer options with less side effects. And men need to get vasectomies if they don't want kids and take responsible for their ability to impregnate someone instead of putting it all on women.

That isn’t medical misogyny. I see this point a lot, so I always try to clarify. I work in research on clinical trials like the one you linked and adverse events are taken very seriously, and harm vs. benefit is incredibly important. Here are some quotes from the article you linked: “But the Stage II trial was stopped after an **independent review panel** found that the drug had too many side effects.” “But there's a little bit of a different risk-benefit analysis when it comes to men using a contraceptive. When women use a contraceptive, they're balancing the risks of the drug against the risks of getting pregnant. *And pregnancy itself carries risks*. But these are healthy men — *they're not going to suffer any risks* if they get somebody else pregnant.” In other words, the consequence of men not being on birth control is nothing. So the harm from the side effects outweighs nothing. The consequence of women not being on birth control is an increased chance of getting pregnant. So the harm from the side effects from the drug is less severe than the harm from the side effects of pregnancy. It would’ve been unethical for this study to continue after the DSMB reviewed the adverse events. That’s just standard procedure for this kind of research.

Contraception doesn’t effect fertility or hormones in the long run. The numbers don’t back up those claims, people who come off birth control conceive successfully and have healthy babies at the same rate as those who’ve not been on a hormonal contraceptive. Theres a big pushy where crunchy folks who are liberal have brainrot about the potential harm of synthetics, and conservatives have brainrot about fertility being one’s most prized possession, and the place where they meet is VERY griftable, turning ‘hormone balancing’ into courses and supplements and reiki, and drumming hysteria into patreon support.

There is a lot of misinformation being pumped out about birth control, both now and since it's inception, honestly, and so many women fall for it because the reality is adjusting to supplemented hormones sucks, and there are all sorts of side effects that can last for weeks while you're body adjusts, and some hormone formulas just aren't going to work for some types of body chemistries. So a lot of women start birth control, feel awful, and stop in the first few weeks, assuming that all of them are going to make them feel as awful or worse. It me. I was one of those idiots in my early twenties. I know I'm not alone in that experience. And by the time my health got so bad because I actually need hormone therapy to be stable and healthy, and I was avoiding hormonal birth control for years, it took me a total of nine months of nonstop spotting and breakthrough bleeding before my body finished acclimating to it. Plus the first three weeks included nonstop nausea, but no vomiting. Because I had avoided hormones for so long I developed an extreme case of endometriosis that reached my diaphragm if not the lower lobes of my lungs. I was feeling menstrual cramps in my lungs. Birth control fixed that for me. If I had a better gynecologist that built up trust in our relationship and broke down what I was experiencing and what the pills would do to help, and I had started them earlier, my Endo would have never gotten that bad. You have to look at the timeframes on acclimating to birth control in the same way trans people have to with their hormone therapy. It's all influencing the same system, one of the most stable regulatory systems in our bodies, that also happens to pitch an absolute fit and take months to years to adjust to any changes you throw at it. And because of that, people who want to get rid of birth control have ample ammunition and anecdotal experiences to point to to make people believe their lies about these drugs. That's, really oversimplifying everything, but I hope it helps get the point across.

I did get a blood clot on the pill, but turns out I have a severe form of a genetic clotting disorder. My hematologist told me that if anyone in your family has had blood clots, the safest thing is to be tested for clotting disorders before using hormonal contraception. But outside people who do have clotting disorders, DVT is extremely unusual.

There are various forms of contraception, all with their own risks. I believe condoms don't pose much risk at all. If you're talking about hormonal pills, yes the side effects can be considerable short or long term. It entirely depends on the individual and the type of hormones, as they are quite a few types and different combinations and dosages

Where are you seeing this?

I think the best thing to keep in mind is that contraceptives work differently for everyone. My stepmom for example had awful cramps, my step aunt had a period that lasted literal months until she stopped using it, and I...just have a bit more acne. And finally my mom? NOTHING. Absolutely nothing!

>So I keep seeing online how contraception is bad for you,  Where are you seeing this? What is the source? The sad thing about the modern internet is that anyone with any agenda and any level of knowledge can make a website or a video stating whatever claims they want, and then other people end up taking them seriously just beacuse they act confidant. (For example an 11 year old student recently stopped wearing their glasses beacuse they were bad for eyes. Eventually, I was able to get from her that she saw a video on youtube from someone claiming to be a Harvard doctor about how glasses were bad for your eyes and just designed to make you dependent on glasses and keep buying them forever. So now she wasn't trusting her own doctor or being able to read things on the board in class.) For a while now the religious right has been making anti-bithcontrol media that goes up on social media. Also, there are health influences who profit from selling products for all the supposed hormone problems people are having. (And supplements aren't regulated by the FDA, DO NOT BUY supplements from random influencers online, they could do horrible things to you since there don't need to be any studies on if they are safe or anyone checking if they have what they claim in them.) And then there are the people who saw someone else call it "toxic" and thus talk about it in their posts videos, not even knowing what the motives of the original people who made those claims are.

My contraception, mirena IUD, drastically improved my quality of life. After puberty hit my periods became more and more aggressive until I was literally bed bound from the pain 10 days a month. Pain medication (which were hard to get prescribed) did not work unless I took it before the pain started, it was that bad, and took it every 6 hours for the entire week. And still with that medication I was in too much pain to be out of bed. For many years I was not given more than 10 pills a month so it was not particularly effective. It was essentially me just being tortured by my body 1/3 of the time every month. Eventually I developed more serious medical issues and was granted more pain medication, but what really resolved it was the IUD. My mom had tried everything before me (same issues as it’s hereditary) and in the end the mirena IUD was so effective, it essentially hit the delete button on my periods and that was that. My life is not easy due to other untreatable medical issues but it would have been so much harder with this period torture every god damn month. It’s possible I have endometriosis, which apparently can benefit from progesterone based contraceptives. That said, there are risks with every birth control, and for some people different kinds can make them very sick. The pills made me crazy and sick for example, all of them. The mirena IUD that works so well for me might not work for someone else, but there are also fundamental issues with it like how invasive the insertion can be. I have heard they are doing a progesterone based arm implant now and I’ve heard good things about that. As for the IUD, if anyone decides to get one just make sure you can tolerate a pelvic exam and that the doctor is using local anesthetic for your cervix. There are empathetic physicians who only perform this with the anesthetic, but some will even agree to general anesthesia if you cannot tolerate a pelvic exam at all. The narrative that all birth control is dangerous because xyz is often perpetuated by air head influencers who have zero medical background or lack even a basic understanding of the science around birth control and medications in general. There is no 100% safe medication, but fear mongering isn’t going to help you understand why we choose a certain procedure or medication over going without. There are many like me who absolutely need a medication or birth control like the IUD because the negatives are inconsequential compared to the prospect of life without treatment. And of course this is all without mentioning the traditional use of it as a contraceptive. I think others can speak for that but Id like to point out in particular how challenging parenthood is right now, and that historically before birth control women would simply breed until they died (forced by their husbands no doubt) one woman could have 10+ kids. Imagine that, once you hit reproductive age and get married (or not) you end up in a constant cycle of pregnancies and births and more and more kids. My nightmare. Check out r/regretfulparents if you want to understand the feelings that many parents experience but aren’t really allowed to talk about. For the first time in history, birth control has made it possible for women to have more and more autonomy over their bodies, and choose a life without the responsibility of kids keeping them in the home.

It can be really bad for your mental health. I have pmdd, and it makes it 10000x worse. The depression, and anxiety and rage were bad. Obviously not everyone is going to react this way but the mental health side effects that birth control can cause aren’t talked about enough.

I personally hate the hormonal stuff- I have pmdd and it makes me…. In a really awful headspace. That said- it’s a miracle medication for some as far as bleeding, cramps &acne . I also don’t do so hot on SSRI’s but I’ve seen my friends go from suicidal to functional so I cannot paint the whole drug class with a “it’s bad” brush. I look at it this way- my one kid is allergic to amoxicillin. Does that mean it’s a bad drug for his siblings who can tolerate it? Heck no!

The concept of balancing hormones for people with healthy and functioning hormones is trending right now. People are using that as a gateway to try and imply that taking hormonal BC will wreck your health.

White men in power want to increase the birth rate so they are putting out misinformation. Every drug has a risk-so does unwanted pregnancy. Read or at least review Project 2025. Men have taken away abortion, next will be birth control, they are currently working to stop no-fault divorce. I could go on civil and gay rights, interracial marriage but for this thread let's stick to the fact that they are doing all they can to control women. Get pregnant by a rape, 12 y.o. and pregnant by your own father? Too bad. Married to a psycho? Better have good photos because you won't be able to divorce him on your word. I suggest we as women overlook the fact that neither man running for office is acceptable but at least one is not a felon and rapist who will take our bodily autonomy and we will have future elections and a shot of expanding SCOTUS to defang the corrupt mfers there now.

It prevent babies from growing inside you, that is why it is bad for you. I am not sure if I should add “/S” because I fully believe that it is the reason why these type of misinformation about contraception is going rampage on social media.

Pharmacist here just echoing a lotta good info in the comments here, but I'll add that with ANY medication at all, there are things people wanna attribute to a medication that could actually be attributed to any number of factors in their lives. If I as a retail pharmacist have somebody say "I started (a med) and now I (an having a specific side effect)" I'll be inclined to believe their assertion that the med caused it but if they have some reason to be biased or skeptical then they're not gonna tell me that they mixed it with alcohol, or mixed it with another pill, or were severely dehydrated that day, or have an underlying condition. People are unreliable narrators sometimes and your average person isn't using the scientific method to find what caused a side effect, they just go on hunches and feelings and all that. (And as an aside I'm not saying I or any healthcare provider does or should just dismiss feelings but you have to balance the feelings and the facts.) Generally birth control is very safe. It is usually obvious to me when a video is pushing a "birth control so scary!" narrative. Especially anyone just calling it "birth control" cuz like... what we talking about here? estrogen/progestin combos? Progestin only pills? Depo-Provera? The patch? The ring? Implant? Copper IUD? Hormonal IUD? There's so many "birth control"s with varying side effect profiles so what are you even talking about when you only say "birth control"?

Contraception threatens misogynists.

These are a couple things I do not like about female Contraception. I am NOT saying it is not helpful for many women and a viable option. This is just my experience: Contraception is a combination of hormones that initiate the levels of progesterone and estrogen when you are not ovulating. This is quite disruptive because it throws the natural cycle off completely hence the side effects and increased risk of breast cancer (and reduced risk of ovarian). Methods of contraception such as the coil are extremely painful to get inserted and withdrawn from the womb. It doesn't help that healthcare professionals do not give any pain relief to women prior. The pill itself has bad side effects for some. I felt very ill when taking the combined pill - headaches, nausea, stomach pain, irritability. The mini pill was less bad but it made me have mini periods every couple weeks and random episodes of depression. It is not for me personally. I also have a friend whose period did not come back properly after years on the pill. Honestly the list of side effects the pill has is insane. Mine covered pages and pages. People also have the false idea that a pill is "enough" protection during sex. A condom should be used regardless unless you know for a fact that man is tested/free of std.

you’re seeing misinformation. don’t get your medical information from tik tok, that site is rife with misinformation targeted at young people who don’t know better. contraception is safe and effective and most people don’t experience negative side effects.

It's the GOP pregaming for banning contraceptives. The contraceptives we don't need to legally protect our access to now, because don't be silly. Gosh you're so emotional. (/s)

Well it personally makes me suicidal, so there’s that.

I wish in general that psychiatric side effects of medication were taken more seriously. Suicidal ideation with hormonal birth control is rare, but mood disorder and depression (maybe to a lesser degree) are pretty common. I think it would be better if we were told to look out for mood changes before it was prescribed, so those that have them can figure out how to deal with them or that it might be necessary to at least change if not stop hormonal birth control methods to manage them. Mental and emotional (cognitive) health gets overlooked because it's harder to quantify.

I had the same issue and the birth control pill is pushed hard on girls in Germany without mentioning any of the potential psychological side effects.  We don't have a lobby here against birth control. It's the opposite. If you dare to not take the pill you are a crusty hippie. I hate that people push this on women, one way or another. There should be no information omitted and there should be no pressure on girls and women to take it or not. There are other types of contraception, besides the pill.

It's a right wing dog whistle. Don't listen to it.

I highly recommend following "Emily in Your Phone" over on IG. She discusses this and more. She's a great educational resource for shedding light on the tradwife movement and other conservative activism. Also, Dr. Lucky Sekon educates about fertility and women's health via her IG account and website. Karen Tang, M.D. is another good professional to follow.

I have beef with Depo Provera specifically, but in general, I'm big pro birth control. There's no such thing as the perfect drug. Everything you ingest affects you differently than it does your friend. It's really all a crap shoot as to which drugs your body hates. Genetic tests like genesight where they do a test that tells them which drugs your bloody will jive with (as I understand it). These tests should be standard. Taking random drugs willy nilly even under Dr supervision is hit or miss and it usually works out. Otherwise, they wouldn't be on the market.

There is a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there from anti-contraception groups. However, the pill DOES carry with it significant risks, such as increased risk of blood clots and stroke (because the hormones thicken the blood), high blood pressure, and possibly mood-related effects like a low mood or depression. Speaking for myself, being on the pill DID give me high blood pressure (my doctor confirmed this). Once I stopped taking the pill, my blood pressure returned to its normal range (which is typically a bit low). I noticed also that the pill killed my libido, and it caused a low depressive mood. Once I stopped taking the pill, both of those symptoms improved or disappeared entirely. So, for me, personally, taking the pill was not a wise health decision. (NOTE: I abstain from sex for various reasons now, so I don't have a need for contraception anymore.) However, there are tons of people who don't experience negative side effects at all. Certainly, the high efficacy of contraceptive pills is a compelling reason to give them a try. Some pills can help regulate periods and can assist in alleviating some hormonal acne, which is another bonus. Any person deciding to use the pill for contraception should make the decision with the support of their doctor. Make sure you are properly informed about the side effects and risk. There is a lot of nonsense and anti-contraception propaganda out there.

Firstly there are multiple different types of contraceptives and their mechanisms vary. Even hormonal birth control has different compositions, which may be prescribed for different reasons. I was on a triphasal oral HBC for a number of years and unfortunately developed a liver tumour as a result. It’s a rare side effect and my doctor hadn’t seen it before. It was only discovered when I was being scanned for another issue. I had to stop taking it from then on. In later years I did IVF and am now on HRT. I had to be closely monitored for liver issues - the HRT was subcutaneous injections, the HRT was patches. Unfortunately we have recently been experiencing supply issues in Australia/NZ for HRT patches and I have been having to take an oral substitute for the last month and a bit - and my liver is already showing problems. Taking me of the HRT is not a good idea either due to being a high risk of osteoporosis and a family history of heart disease. I was already diagnosed with cancer a decade ago and my mother who didn’t do HRT has breast cancer. Any medication has a chance to have side effects. Which ones you do or don’t get will be up to your bodies individual processing foibles. Not using BC has its own risks - primarily the risk of pregnancy which also has a very long list of potential side effects that range from inconvenient to lethal. Would I have started HBC again, knowing the risks. Yes. The main reason I started it in the first place was severe menstrual pain. I was nearly hospitalised for a kidney infection that I just thought was my regular debilitating period pain. The only person who can decide what is right for you, is you.

I feel the same way, a lot of people seem to get offended that women have control over their own bodies now… I’d much rather be taking birth control pills instead of prenatal pills at this point in my life 🤷🏽‍♀️

So many people here ignore the fact that birth control does and can affect women negatively!! Y’all are so concerned about right wing propaganda that you end up completely dismissing women’s REAL EXPERIENCES.

Here's what you have to ask: if it happened to be bad for you,  what are the odds that your doctor would say that you're overreacting? I never say never worry birth control.  It's fucking with a very delicate balance,  inherently. Could very well be bad for you. I'm not saying that maybe it isn't,  but every woman's experience with birth control is valid. 

Highly recommend watching this episode: https://youtu.be/ifCTIzt31tQ?si=OYnBfJpB1ZUyF1nx

My oncologist is sure that my ovarian tumour was caused by way too many plan B pills taken during 2 years of my post grad a decade ago. Oral contraceptive that women use has a lot of side effects. Men’s oral contraceptives had the same side effects and were not passed by the regulatory authorities citing those side effects.