Everything That Happened in the World of Birth Control Last Month

Happy September fellow cat ladies!

This is only my 3rd issue of a birth control newsletter I still can’t decide on a name for, and even though it’s been almost exactly a month since I put out the last one, I’ve been thinking about writing this for those entire 4 weeks. In my defense, I was on my period, then on vacation, then on my period again. But I’m exciting about and interested in this topic and I’ve been loving researching and writing about it! I feel like I’m very much only writing this for myself right now, which has actually been sort of refreshing. In a world of generative ai and fried dopamine receptors, I’ve been intentionally stretching my creative muscles by writing and reading more. After graduating from college the essay-writing burnout was so strong I didn’t pick up a pen for years, and I stopped reading too. I used to read a LOT, I’ve always been the type of person to pick up a book and read for 3 days straight until I finished it. I haven’t done that in a while, and I miss that about myself.

TLDR, challenging myself to write something I care about for myself and about 20 readers (love you all so much thank you) has been refreshing and exciting, even though it’s been a while. So here is everything that happened last month in the world of birth control!

I stumbled on quite the rabbit hole here. Originally I was just excited to see a story from my hometown! I knew there were wild horses somewhere in Colorado, I just didn’t know they were getting freaky too often! Apparently, the population of wild horses has gotten out of control, and there are too many wild horses on public lands. They’ve been rounding up wild horses and either preparing them for adoption and/or “darting” them with birth control to slow the population growth. The female to male ratio in wild herds is a delicate balance, and keeping it stable requires a pretty large scale operation. they use helicopters and high tech cameras and tons of man power to track, trap, administer the birth control drugs, and then release or rehabilitate the horses.

Seems like a good thing, but there are also animal rights groups fighting against what they call the “brutal and inhumane” trapping of these animals. According to American Wild Horse, the trapping and rounding up of the horses is totally ineffective and even counterproductive to the reproductive rates. Apparently, roundups trigger “compensatory reproduction” where the horses have more babies to compensate for the herd numbers they lost. It’s unclear if the birth control drugs are effective yet or not.

Obviously I know all about this, but it’s become a big enough problem that it’s starting to make big headlines. NPR did a story on how a growing number of videos on TikTok show “poor reliability and quality,” and are spreading misinformation about birth control and the side effects. Only 10% of the videos claiming birth control is dangerous and ineffective are made by medical professionals.

I have noticed a DRAMATIC uptick in the number of comments I get on my videos (which I often end with the call to action “take your birth control”) about how I shouldn’t be promoting something that is so dangerous to women. I didn’t know where these comments were coming from all of a sudden, but it VERY closely aligned with the date of administration change in January of this year. Suspicious, in my opinion.

NPR debunks the claims that birth control is dangerous. Of course there are side effects that come with taking any medication, including headaches, mood changes, acne, etc. But the overwhelming evidence is that birth control is safe, effective, and the best way to prevent pregnancy. Always consult a doctor so you can find what menthol is best for you and your unique body.

" Google or social media will never have the answer because you are your own unique being," says Dr. Jennifer Conti, an obstetrician who works at Stanford University. "Even A.I. that's pooling tons and tons of different people's experiences – it's not your own," she cautions.

The same influencers claiming birth control is dangerous are pushing fertility tracking apps, which are not nearly as effective as birth control. They can have a nearly 10% failure rate, whereas birth control has less than 1%.

" The old joke we used to say is that those that use natural family planning have naturally large families," says Dr. Jeffrey Jensen, vice chair for research in obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health and Science University.

"For individuals that have highly regular cycles and are willing to have periods of voluntary abstinence, that will work," he says. "But many of my patients have busy lives and this may not be the thing they want to focus on."

Keep taking your birth control, ladies. If it’s not working for you, if the side effects are too much for you to handle, consult a doctor and try a different method. I was on the pill and hated it. Nexplanon was in my arm for the worst 6 months of my life. When I finally got up the courage to try the Mirena IUD, my entire life changed. My periods were suddenly manageable. My hormonal acne cleared up. My cramps weren’t debilitating. I LOVE my IUD and I just got it replaced for another 6 years of bliss. It took me years to find something that worked for me, but once I found it I became SO grateful for my birth control.

I am a person on the internet who talks a lot about birth control, so sometimes one of my videos will find it’s way into another corner of the internet for discussion and dissection, which then triggers my birth control google alert and ends up back on my desk. Fun internet inception! This particular article was… uninteresting, to say the least. It broke down something pretty mundane that happened in a comment section on one of my videos where a brand commented and a follower commented back to them in a snarky way. It was really nothing special and wouldn’t have made this list if I didn’t think it was funny because… hey, that’s me!

2 years ago, the FDA approved OPill, a birth control pill you can get without a prescription. After 2 years, we are seeing the results of making birth control more accessible for women. Turns out, 30% of women who now take the over-the-counter pill previously were not on birth control at all. This means that 3 out of 10 women now using opill are more likely to be uninsured, young, and living in rural areas. They probably had a hard time going to see a doctor or gynecologist in order to get a prescription for birth control.

Paired with the recent news that the birth rate has declined and that girls in their teens are having less unplanned pregnancies, this is huge news! Opill has been linked to a 31.8% increase in women going from no birth control to effective pregnancy prevention! Removing barriers from birth control is amazing and extremely effective.

If you make birth control easy to get, people can get it! And then they will use it! Amazing!

“I love birth control. I’m so grateful that I live in time where I could choose not to get pregnant.” - Lorde

Lorde has been my personal pop culture champion of birth control since the cover art reveal of their newest album, which prominently featured an IUD. In this interview, they talked about their birth control and how they aren’t on it anymore because they’ve “never been a woman not taking this pill everyday.” Going off the pill was part of Lorde’s journey of gender expression and exploration, and I find that really beautiful and fascinating. While going through a journey to discover what kind of woman she is- or isn’t- she felt it necessary to see what her body felt like without birth control.

An incredibly interesting poll was released by NBC news that detailed what life events are important to Gen-Z’s definition of personal success. They were split into 4 groups: men who voted for Trump, men who voted for Harris, women who voted for Trump, and women who voted for Harris.

The main takeaway- and the takeaway that had men on twitter crashing out and running around screaming like chickens with their dicks cut off- was that women DO NOT think getting married or having kids is important. Men on the other hand, specifically men who voted for Trump, rated having children as the MOST important indicator of personal success. Men and women clearly have INCREDIBLY different opinions on what results in a happy and fulfilled life. The entire poll is extremely fascinating and I actually did an entire breakdown on my YouTube channel if you’re interested in hearing more about it.

I genuinely believe if we lived in a matriarchal utopia every single person with a period would get the week off if they wanted it. 3 fully paid sick days EVERY SINGLE MONTH for employees with endometriosis is amazing! This is a huge step towards recognition and it’s so incredibly validating for those who struggle with unbearable pain every month. No one should ever have to choose between their health and their paycheck.

This comes at the same time as progress is being made on diagnosing endometriosis more easily. Getting diagnosed currently required surgery, which is painful and expensive. This new test requires just a blood sample.

I used to skip class in college when the pain of my period became too much to leave my bed. I still struggle with my pain especially on the first 1-2 days of my cycle. I don’t even have endometriosis! I’m sure there are at least a few hundred girls in Portugal celebrating this huge win and the ability to rest on their most painful days.

I hope you enjoyed your weekly dose of birth control news! Make sure to subscribe if you haven’t (it’s free unless you’d like to pay which is very nice but not required!) and also check out my YouTube channel!!

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