I was around 13 when it was first suggested that I go on the combination birth control pill by my paediatrician “to control my acne.” My mother was put on it for most of her life to control her PCOS, a hormonal disorder that led to irregular periods. Birth control is often treated as a one stop shop for people with uterus’s issues, and whether it be bad skin or endometriosis, it feels as if doctors would instead blindly hand us capsules of hormones than actually get to the root of our problems.
When I finally did decide to begin using the pill, I was confident that I was at least doing it at my own fruition. I was in my teens and entering a serious relationship with a trustworthy partner. Since the pill had been around the longest, it felt like the most straightforward choice regarding reliable, hormonal birth control. Now, four years later, I’m 20 and trying to remember what life was like before taking the pill every day. As someone who struggles with anxiety and panic attacks, it is hard not to wonder whether or not these feelings are enhanced by the laundry list of side effects that go along with hormonal birth control.
So, I started researching. Through the process of elimination, I decided that I could possibly determine why my anxiety was at an all-time high, and that began with finding a new, non-hormonal birth control option. To my great disappointment, I discovered that aside from the disposable options like condoms and the sponge, the only long-term non-hormonal birth control available to people with uteruses is the copper IUD or Paragard. At first glance, it was the perfect solution; no hormones, up to 99 per cent effective and zero-hassle protection from pregnancy for up to 10 years! Then I dug a little deeper. It turns out that while the reward may seem worth it, the entire insertion process is what I would label as barbaric. The IUD is inserted into your cervix without an anesthetic and often no medication besides suggested ibuprofen before arrival. Many IUD users online consider this pain to be worse than childbirth, some even falling unconscious during the process. Even worse is some continue to suffer after insertion from the possible complications, including but not limited to constant bleeding, cramping and even perforation.
With the IUD out of the question for me, I turned to close friends who recommended the NuvaRing. Still a hormonal birth control, it releases a lower and more locally controlled amount of hormones which allegedly leads to lower hormone-related side effects like mood swings and weight gain. It seemed easy enough. Simply insert the ring once a month and all is well, no having to worry about a daily pill or invasive procedure. Even the online reviews I stumbled across seemed to sing praises for the plastic ring, so I moved forward and reached out to my doctor. Don’t think this is the happy ending, though. I, of course, continued to research more, never fully trusting reproductive health at the hands of Big Pharma. Soon enough, I found a reason to veer away from yet another birth control method: A class action lawsuit. More than 2000 users and their families filed lawsuits against the birth control, which was only FDA approved in 2001, for failing to adequately test the progestin (an artificial form of the hormone, progesterone) in the product, leading to numerous cases of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis and venous thromboembolism in its consumers, some cases even resulting in death. The NuvaRing’s manufacturers ended up settling for $200 million and since then have denied any fault in the injuries and have yet to make any changes to the product.
At this point, I was feeling defeated and hopeless and, frankly, I still am. With COVID-19 vaccines being pulled from use due to blood clots, it is incredibly disheartening to see birth control options that do just the same being given to people with uteruses as young as 11 or 12 as a “be all, end all” option. I think that if birth control were a predominantly male issue, perhaps advancements would have been made years ago, but for now, I continue my search.