i'd just like to give a shout out to the I.U.D. right now. ladies, do your research and many of you will find that this is a superior form of birth control for you to use.

not only is it safe, it is the single most effective form of birth control (other than abstinence). personally, i don't consider abstinence to be an option.

reproductive rights is an ongoing battle. know your enemy and do all you can to beat him at his own game.

Yes, I 2nd the IUD. I was on the pill from age 15 to just a year and a half ago. For those counting, that's about 20 years. I switched to the IUD for personal, non-medical reasons, and I will NEVER go back.

However, do your research & talk to a provider. The IUD should not be used without a condom except in strictly monogamous (did I spell that right?) relationships, but neither should the pill, so IUD is still better in my book.

However, not only does the IUD not protect you from STDs (duh, but it bears repeating), but it also vastly increases the onset & severity of STDs you do contract.

I believe today's administration would rather handle reproductive rights with an IED, not an IUD.

Peggy:

I have heard the STD caution before from a friend. She was warned by her doctor about the increased risk. However, when I asked my own doctor about it she told me it was a bunch of bull. Do you know why exactly the severity increases? Just wondering.

Thanks!

If it keeps any of the Stranger staff from reproducing their genes, I will personally pay for their birth control pills...at any price.

I third the greatness of the IUD.

As for increasing the onset and severity of STDS: not true. If you do get an STD while you have an IUD, some researchers think you've got an ever-so-slightly increased chance that the infection will make its way up into your uterus via the IUD's string, which increases your chance for PID. However, some doctors and researchers dispute that. Doctors I've talked to about the IUD have had nothing but gushing praise for it. A woman is most likely to get PID in the first three weeks after she gets the IUD, caused by bacteria getting into the uterus during insertion. All in all, a woman's chance of getting PID while using the IUD is somewhere around .15 percent to 2 percent. Doctors want you to be monogamous while you've got an IUD because they figure if you're sleeping around, you're more likely to get STDs. But, the IUD doesn't make STDs any worse.

Now, as for the greatness of the IUD: You can keep the copper IUD in for 10 years; it's hormone free; it has few side effects for most women (which generally go away after the first few months); you never have to think about it, except to check for the string every now and then; and it's the cheapest form of birth control out there. Fuck yeah, IUDS!

Hey Kim --- Thanks for the info! I did all sorts of reading, net & library, and asked a few nurses & docs (I work at a hospital), and discussed it with my own GYN. All the live people & most of the articles concurred that it does increase the severity on STDs. But it seems that there is an uncertainty about that that I didn't uncover. That's interesting to know.

No matter, however, because if you are not monogamous you should always be using add'l protection anyway.

Can I fourth the notion of an IUD, even though I already seconded it? Yay copper IUD!

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