Whether parents like it or not, more and more teens are becoming sexually active. And one of their biggest fears is teen pregnancy. Over 750,000 teenage girls are pregnant each year.

One form of birth control that is becoming more popular and used by teens is an intrauterine devices or IUD. An IUD is a small plastic t shaped device placed in a women’s uterus. Many parents are not in favor of this method because in the 1970s IUDs were linked to infertility and miscarriages.

However according Arefa Cassoobhoy, MD, MPH, more research has been done and doctors now have more information about IUDs. IUDs failure rate is less than 1%, and can be used for 3,5, or even 10 years, depending on when you feel you might want to have children. The thought that IUDs cause infertility is untrue, after the IUD is removed fertility comes back quickly.

IUDs seem like the perfect solution to prevent unwanted pregnancy. It is much easier than having to worry about taking a pill everyday at the same time, which many teens will forget to take. My only concern with this method, is where is the science to back up that IUDs don’t cause infertility. They state that fertility returns quickly but they should definitely include evidence as to how this is true.

Maybe they could do a study with women who used to use IUDs and now have children, or find a way to test just how quickly fertility returns to give women a better understanding of what they are putting into their bodies.

Resources:

http://blogs.webmd.com/breaking-news/2014/10/birth-control-iuds-for-teens.html