Search for “birth control” on TikTok or Instagram and a cascade of misleading videos vilifying hormonal contraception appear: Young women blaming their weight gain on the pill. Right-wing commentators claiming that some birth control can lead to infertility. Testimonials complaining of depression and anxiety.
Instead, many social media influencers recommend “natural” alternatives, such as timing sex to menstrual cycles — a less effective birth-control method that doctors warn could result in unwanted pregnancies in a country where abortion is now banned or restricted in nearly half the states.
Physicians say they’re seeing an explosion of birth-control misinformation online targeting a vulnerable demographic: people in their teens and early 20s who are more likely to believe what they see on their phones because of algorithms that feed them a stream of videos reinforcing messages often divorced from scientific evidence.
There are many reasons to take birth control besides contraception. My tubes are tied so I don’t need the pill to prevent pregnancy, but I take it because I suffer from premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), which is like PMS on all the steroids. Two out of every four weeks were hell. I’m 42, so yes the risk of blood clots is elevated, but the benefits are amazing. I take it continously, it has no negative effect on my libido or ability to finish, it doesn’t make me gain weight, and because I skip the placebos I never have a period. I don’t have the rage and despair; I don’t have the bloating, aching, nausea, lightheadedness, and cramping; I don’t have to plan my life around bleeding; and I never get surprised by an early period (which became a huge problem because of perimenopause).
I know I’m a sample size of 1 but I really can’t say enough good things about my pill. I wish I’d gotten on it sooner!