I'm Hillary, and I'm trying
to understand birth control.
I recently asked a
few high schoolers
what they knew about it.
I've never talked
about birth control.
I'm a little bit unsure about
what birth control even is.
I know that birth control
is a pill that you take.
I don't really know
anything about it, honestly.
And then I asked some of my
coworkers what they knew.
I don't have a lot of experience
talking or researching
or thinking about birth control.
I've never used birth control.
How did I learn
about birth control?
I'd say I didn't.
I think this is what everyone
thinks of as the most
basic form of birth control.
Somehow these magical tablets
keep you from getting pregnant.
I don't know what's in it.
I feel like you've got to
have some instructions.
How does this work?
Is it the coil that
doesn't make you pregnant?
That's like magic.
How does it do that?
It turns out we all had
a bunch of questions.
So I called in some experts.
I'm Dr. Regina Edmond.
I'm Dr. Yvonne Bohn,
and we're OB/GYNs.
In order to understand
birth control,
first you have to understand two
basic concepts-- menstruation,
which is when the uterine
lining sheds and a woman
bleeds monthly, and the
second is ovulation.
That's when the ovary
releases an egg.
So the way hormonal
birth control works is it
prevents you from
ovulating by interrupting
the signal from your brain.
You do not ovulate.
At the end of the
cycle, the pills,
the hormones in the pills,
or the lack of them,
causes you to have a, quote,
"fake menstrual cycle."
Does birth control
make you gain weight?
So when we're talking about
birth control right now
we're talking about the combined
birth control pills, the ones
you take every day.
The risk of weight gain
with these types of pills
is extremely low.
If you're gaining more
than five pounds then
you should let the doctor know.
What happens if I have one
cigarette if I'm on the pill?
There is an increased
risk of blood clots
if you're smoking while
you take the pill.
If you're over 35, we absolutely
do not want you to smoke.
This doesn't apply
to smoking weed.
We really do not
encourage cigarette use
at all for so many
other reasons.
But if you're out one night
and you have one cigarette,
you're probably going to be OK.
This is an IUD?
I'm really confused
about this one.
I don't understand what this is.
This is a copper IUD.
As you can see, the device
is lined with copper wire.
And the copper in the IUD is
toxic to the sperm so the sperm
cannot fertilized egg.
It does not inhibit
ovulation, and it does not
affect your menstrual cycle.
What will the effect of
having been on birth control
for a decade be when I
want to get pregnant?
Women always worry, they've
been on the pill for 10 years,
how is that going to
affect their fertility?
Are they going to be able to
have a baby when they want to?
And the answer is yes.
Because of the low dose of
most birth control pills,
there is little risk to future
fertility after stopping.
Once you stop the pills or once
you take your placebo pills,
within a very short
period of time
the hormones that have
regulated or prevented
your pregnancy will
be gone, and you
should be able to resume a
normal menstrual cycle very
quickly.
Sometimes as rapidly
as in one month.
For other women it may
take a little bit longer.
Why isn't there a dude pill?
We do have the male
condom and vasectomy.
I don't see that there will be
a hormonal form of contraception
for men because in order to
help them stop producing sperm,
we would have to affect
their testosterone levels,
and I don't think
most men would be
willing to deal with the side
effects of low testosterone.
I don't know which
option to go with.
The best form of birth
control is the one
that you'll remember to take.
Whatever you're using,
it has to be consistent.
You have to be compliant.
So whether it's condoms, whether
it's a diaphragm, whether it's
a pill that you take every
day, or a ring that you
put in the vagina, you
have to be compliant.
A lot of people
take birth control
so that they don't get
pregnant, but a lot of people
take birth control
for other reasons too.
The hormones in
the birth control
help to regulate your
hormones so that you
have possibly less
acne, less bleeding
when you have your
menstrual cycle,
and possibly less cramping.
So we use it for
medical problems too.
It seems like a lot of our
confusion stems from the fact
that we hadn't really been
talking about birth control.
I definitely think
we should open up
the conversation
about birth control
and it's many uses
a lot earlier.
You can't be bashful.
You have to know what it is
that you're putting inside
of your body.
Because otherwise you just hear
about it through other people
and you don't really
know what you're doing.
A lot of women are raised to
be modest and to be ashamed.
And because of that,
they really don't
understand what's going on
in their body every month.
I think it's important
that a lot of young girls
know more about it.
We think of birth control as a
political thing or a religious,
not a religious thing,
but so much of it
just has to do with
women's bodies.
This should be
open conversation.
It doesn't have to be so scary.
I think that if it
were talked about more,
it wouldn't seem so wrong.
So let's actually talk
about birth control.
Let's talk about birth control.
Let's talk about birth control.
Let's talk about birth control.
Let's talk about it.