{"id":179524,"date":"2018-02-24T08:36:30","date_gmt":"2018-02-24T13:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=179524"},"modified":"2025-08-07T14:56:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T19:56:51","slug":"birth-control-shot-hiv-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/birth-control-shot-hiv-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Research calls into question risk of HIV with injectable birth control"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Update 8\/7\/2025<\/strong>: Despite studies suggesting that women using the birth control injectable Depo-Provera are at an increased risk of contracting HIV, a 2019 study<\/a> \u2014 funded by pro-abortion groups including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UN Population Fund \u2014 “did not find a substantial difference in HIV risk among the methods evaluated, and all methods were safe and highly effective.” The study<\/a> looked at progestin-only injectable contraception (Depo-Provera), a copper IUD, and a levonorgestrel implant, and found that\u00a0 “results support continued and increased access to these three contraceptive methods…”<\/p>\n

2\/24\/2018<\/strong>: The common hormonal birth control shot depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate, known more commonly as DMPA and sold as Depo-Provera, has been linked to an increased risk of HIV infection in women. A study<\/a>\u00a0published in February 2018 in Endocrine Reviews found that the progestin MPA used in the DMPA shot both increases the permeability of the female genital tract (promoting HIV-1 uptake) and suppresses parts of the immune system. When the cells in the genital tract come into contact with HIV, MPA acts like the stress hormone cortisol.<\/p>\n

“Human studies suggest DMPA use may raise the risk of HIV infection in exposed women by about 40 percent,” explained Zdenek Hel, Ph.D.,<\/a> professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Pathology, UAB School of Medicine, and co-author of the study. “Importantly, we know that some other forms of contraceptive methods do not show the same deleterious effect on the immune function in cell culture, small animals or human studies.”<\/p>\n

A 2012\u00a0observational study<\/a> that included HIV-1 serodiscordant couples\u00a0(meaning the woman does not have HIV while her partner is infected) in sub-Saharan Africa determined that risk of HIV infection was lower with\u00a0other forms of contraception including sterilization, intrauterine devices,\u00a0and hormonal implants.\u00a0When\u00a0women\u00a0are given\u00a0this particular DMPA hormonal birth control shot it\u00a0may increase their risk\u00a0of acquiring HIV by 1.4-fold.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe increased rate of HIV infection among women using DMPA contraceptive shots is likely due to multiple reasons, including decreases in immune function and the protective barrier function of the female genital tract,\u201d explained Janet P. Hapgood<\/a>, Ph.D., University of Cape Town, South Africa; Hel; and Charu Kaushic, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. \u201cStudying the biology of MPA helps us understand what may be driving the increased rate of HIV infection seen in human research.”<\/p>\n

More than half of the 36.7 million people living with HIV reside in eastern or southern Africa, and DMPA is the primary birth control used in sub-Saharan Africa. It is used by over 50 million women around the world.<\/p>\n

Obianuju Ekeocha, an African woman and pro-life activist argues<\/a> that the women of Africa do not want contraception in the first place and when Western countries come to Africa with birth control and abortion, it is a form\u00a0of ideological colonization.<\/p>\n

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