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.