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I'm Hillary, and I'm trying
to understand birth control.

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I recently asked a
few high schoolers

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what they knew about it.

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I've never talked
about birth control.

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I'm a little bit unsure about
what birth control even is.

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I know that birth control
is a pill that you take.

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I don't really know
anything about it, honestly.

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And then I asked some of my
coworkers what they knew.

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I don't have a lot of experience
talking or researching

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or thinking about birth control.

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I've never used birth control.

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How did I learn
about birth control?

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I'd say I didn't.

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I think this is what everyone
thinks of as the most

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basic form of birth control.

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Somehow these magical tablets
keep you from getting pregnant.

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I don't know what's in it.

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I feel like you've got to
have some instructions.

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How does this work?

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Is it the coil that
doesn't make you pregnant?

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That's like magic.

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How does it do that?

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It turns out we all had
a bunch of questions.

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So I called in some experts.

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I'm Dr. Regina Edmond.

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I'm Dr. Yvonne Bohn,
and we're OB/GYNs.

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In order to understand
birth control,

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first you have to understand two
basic concepts-- menstruation,

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which is when the uterine
lining sheds and a woman

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bleeds monthly, and the
second is ovulation.

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That's when the ovary
releases an egg.

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So the way hormonal
birth control works is it

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prevents you from
ovulating by interrupting

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the signal from your brain.

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You do not ovulate.

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At the end of the
cycle, the pills,

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the hormones in the pills,
or the lack of them,

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causes you to have a, quote,
"fake menstrual cycle."

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Does birth control
make you gain weight?

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So when we're talking about
birth control right now

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we're talking about the combined
birth control pills, the ones

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you take every day.

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The risk of weight gain
with these types of pills

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is extremely low.

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If you're gaining more
than five pounds then

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you should let the doctor know.

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What happens if I have one
cigarette if I'm on the pill?

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There is an increased
risk of blood clots

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if you're smoking while
you take the pill.

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If you're over 35, we absolutely
do not want you to smoke.

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This doesn't apply
to smoking weed.

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We really do not
encourage cigarette use

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at all for so many
other reasons.

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But if you're out one night
and you have one cigarette,

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you're probably going to be OK.

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This is an IUD?

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I'm really confused
about this one.

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I don't understand what this is.

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This is a copper IUD.

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As you can see, the device
is lined with copper wire.

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And the copper in the IUD is
toxic to the sperm so the sperm

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cannot fertilized egg.

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It does not inhibit
ovulation, and it does not

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affect your menstrual cycle.

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What will the effect of
having been on birth control

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for a decade be when I
want to get pregnant?

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Women always worry, they've
been on the pill for 10 years,

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how is that going to
affect their fertility?

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Are they going to be able to
have a baby when they want to?

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And the answer is yes.

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Because of the low dose of
most birth control pills,

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there is little risk to future
fertility after stopping.

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Once you stop the pills or once
you take your placebo pills,

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within a very short
period of time

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the hormones that have
regulated or prevented

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your pregnancy will
be gone, and you

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should be able to resume a
normal menstrual cycle very

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quickly.

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Sometimes as rapidly
as in one month.

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For other women it may
take a little bit longer.

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Why isn't there a dude pill?

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We do have the male
condom and vasectomy.

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I don't see that there will be
a hormonal form of contraception

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for men because in order to
help them stop producing sperm,

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we would have to affect
their testosterone levels,

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and I don't think
most men would be

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willing to deal with the side
effects of low testosterone.

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I don't know which
option to go with.

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The best form of birth
control is the one

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that you'll remember to take.

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Whatever you're using,
it has to be consistent.

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You have to be compliant.

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So whether it's condoms, whether
it's a diaphragm, whether it's

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a pill that you take every
day, or a ring that you

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put in the vagina, you
have to be compliant.

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A lot of people
take birth control

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so that they don't get
pregnant, but a lot of people

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take birth control
for other reasons too.

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The hormones in
the birth control

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help to regulate your
hormones so that you

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have possibly less
acne, less bleeding

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when you have your
menstrual cycle,

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and possibly less cramping.

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So we use it for
medical problems too.

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It seems like a lot of our
confusion stems from the fact

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that we hadn't really been
talking about birth control.

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I definitely think
we should open up

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the conversation
about birth control

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and it's many uses
a lot earlier.

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You can't be bashful.

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You have to know what it is
that you're putting inside

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of your body.

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Because otherwise you just hear
about it through other people

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and you don't really
know what you're doing.

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A lot of women are raised to
be modest and to be ashamed.

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And because of that,
they really don't

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understand what's going on
in their body every month.

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I think it's important
that a lot of young girls

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know more about it.

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We think of birth control as a
political thing or a religious,

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not a religious thing,
but so much of it

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just has to do with
women's bodies.

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This should be
open conversation.

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It doesn't have to be so scary.

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I think that if it
were talked about more,

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it wouldn't seem so wrong.

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So let's actually talk
about birth control.

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Let's talk about birth control.

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Let's talk about birth control.

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Let's talk about birth control.

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Let's talk about it.

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