Doctors Steering More Women Toward IUDs, Implants For Birth Control

BOSTON (CBS) - Many women may choose traditional birth control methods, like the pill, but increasingly, doctors are steering them toward something else. Dr. Mallika Marshall reports there is an option that many women don't even know about.

When it comes to birth control, there are many choices including condoms, the diaphragm, injections, the pill and a class of contraceptives called LARCs which stands for long-acting reversible contraceptives.

These include IUDs or intra-uterine devices and skin implants, like Implanon and Nexplanon, which are inserted under the skin in the arm.

Researchers at Planned Parenthood questioned nearly 500 family planning doctors and nurses and found that 42% of them used IUDs or implants while only about 13% of women in the general population chose the same.

Experts say this should send the message to women that if even healthcare providers trust these long-acting methods, so should others, and that not only are they safe and effective, but they are also very convenient.

"We are now realizing as a profession," says Dr. Brigid McCue, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital Plymouth, "That women should first be offered the ones that are less likely to fail, less likely to forget, and less likely to leave home."

That doesn't mean that these methods are right for everyone, but if you don't want to have to worry about taking a daily pill or going to the doctor every three months for an injection, you should give an IUD or skin implant serious consideration.