{"id":326502,"date":"2025-02-18T16:51:52","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T22:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=326502"},"modified":"2025-02-17T02:39:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T08:39:34","slug":"copper-iud-hormone-free-side-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/copper-iud-hormone-free-side-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"The Copper IUD: When hormone-free doesn\u2019t mean side effect-free"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Even Cosmopolitan <\/span>has joined the growing chorus of media voices<\/span><\/a> \u2014 like the Washington Post and the New York Times<\/a> \u2014 in admitting that women are increasingly ditching hormonal birth control, though they can’t seem to agree on the reasons why. <\/span>But what are they turning to for family planning instead?<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As women ditch the pill, many are turning to LARC<\/span><\/h3>\n

A growing but overall relatively small <\/span>percentage<\/span><\/a> of women are relying on fertility awareness methods. But, according to <\/span>data<\/span><\/a> from the <\/span>National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 1999\u20132016) and the National Survey for Family Growth (NSFG, 2006-2017), even as hormonal birth control use is declining, uptake of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) is on the rise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not by accident. For years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <\/span>has urged<\/span><\/a> primary care doctors, pediatricians, and OB\/GYNs to promote long-acting, \u201cset it and forget it\u201d LARC, including IUDs and the arm implant. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the professional organization of OB\/GYNs, <\/span>emphasizes<\/span><\/a> LARC as a cornerstone of teen pregnancy prevention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The overturn of Roe v. Wade kicked LARC advocacy into high gear<\/span><\/h3>\n

The push to get women on LARC has only accelerated <\/span>in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade<\/em>, with ready access to abortion decreased in some states. Primary care doctors in particular were <\/span>encouraged<\/span><\/a> to \u201cadd contraception to your health maintenance template, optimize contraception prescriptions to minimize contraceptive failure… [and] sign up for long-acting reversible contraceptive training.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the data, this push has been relatively successful. A December 2023 <\/span>National Health Statistics Report<\/span><\/a> from the CDC reported that \u201cThe percentage of women who had ever used the IUD in 2015\u20132019 (21.4%) was almost three times the percentage in 2006\u20132010 (7.7%).\u201d Simultaneously, a 2022 <\/span>study<\/span><\/a>, \u201c<\/span>Trends in Oral Contraceptive and Intrauterine Device Use among Reproductive-aged Women in the US from 1999 to 2017,\u201d found that from 2006-2017, oral contraceptive use decreased 4.4% annually.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some women believe the copper IUD is more natural, safer than hormonal contraception<\/span><\/h3>\n

Live Action News has reported extensively on the significant health concerns associated with <\/span>hormonal<\/span><\/i> birth control use, and these concerns generally extend to the Levonorgestrel IUD (LNG-IUD), also known as the hormonal IUD. Women who are ready to ditch any and all forms of hormonal contraception may turn instead to the copper IUD, known by the brand name Paragard, believing that hormone-free means side effect-free.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But is it true that hormone-free means the copper IUD is more natural, and therefore safer? Here are the copper IUD-specific side effects women should know about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How does the copper IUD prevent pregnancy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The hormonal IUD is a small T-shaped plastic device wrapped in a copper coil that continuously releases copper into the uterus. According to the<\/span> full prescribing information<\/span><\/a>, \u201cParagard works by preventing sperm from reaching the egg, preventing sperm from fertilizing the egg, or possibly preventing attachment (implantation) in the uterus. Paragard does not stop your ovaries from making an egg (ovulating) each month.\u201d They\u2019re considered effective for up to 10 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

General IUD side effects<\/strong><\/p>\n

Risks associated with either type of IUD include:<\/span><\/p>\n