--- title: Birth Control: American Women Still Choose the Pill, IUD Less Popular description: About 62% of U.S. women between the ages 15 to 44 use some form of contraception, according to the CDC. And most use condoms canonical: https://time.com/3629748/contraceptives-birth-control-pill/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-12T15:31:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:13.511Z article:section: Health og:title: The Second Most Popular Form of Birth Control Will Definitely Surprise You og:description: About 62% of U.S. women between the ages 15 to 44 use some form of contraception, according to the CDC. And most use condoms og:url: https://time.com/3629748/contraceptives-birth-control-pill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5be1aa7bd3c2167/69876e335f570fddfcb14233/102758095-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4532 og:image:height: 2549 og:image:alt: 102758095 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Second Most Popular Form of Birth Control Will Definitely Surprise You twitter:description: About 62% of U.S. women between the ages 15 to 44 use some form of contraception, according to the CDC. And most use condoms twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5be1aa7bd3c2167/69876e335f570fddfcb14233/102758095-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Second Most Popular Form of Birth Control Will Surprise You > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=82517802-6016-45f5-99dc-35bfad4d9e99&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: IUD: Breaking Down The Myths [Watch (HLS stream): IUD: Breaking Down The Myths](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pA1pVngw.m3u8) (4:52)  _Published 2014-06-30. IUD: Breaking Down The Myths_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 12, 2014 3:31 PM UTC  Birth control pills Birth control pills Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 12, 2014 3:31 PM UTC About 62% of U.S. women from ages 15 to 44 use some form of contraception, and predictably, the pill is still the most popular. About 16% of women used it in 2011-2013, finds the [latest report](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db173.htm) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics. But the second most popular contraceptive may come as a surprise to many: 15.5% of women—just a hair behind the pill—choose [female sterilization](http://www.hhs.gov/opa/reproductive-health/contraception/female-sterilization/). The CDC report shows that nearly one in three women ages 35 to 44 opted for female sterilization. By contrast, fewer than 1% of women between ages 15 to 24 chose it. The rates of women choosing to undergo the simple, yet irreversible, surgical procedure might seem high, “until you start to peel back the layers and intricacies around forming a family,” says Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice president of external medical affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, who was not involved with the research. “Consider the fact that the majority of women in this country have had the number of children they want to have by mid-twenties to thirty or so—and they still have the capacity to get pregnant until they are 50 years old.” For a lot of women, that can mean 20 fertile years during which a woman may not want to become pregnant. Cullins says women who tend to ask about sterilization don’t want to be bothered by other methods, even those that only require intervention every few years. The overall rate is slightly less than previous years, the CDC says, and Cullins says she expects the rate to continue to decline as long-acting contraceptives, especially the intrauterine device (IUD), become more popular and more affordable in the U.S. But for now, the pill, female sterilization and condoms are more popular than the IUD. Long-acting reversible contraceptives, like the IUD and implant, remained stable from prior years, at 7.2% of women. They were most popular among women aged 25 to 34 and less popular among younger, sexually active women between ages 15 to 24\. Women between ages 35 and 44 were the least likely to use them. Because the [IUD is much more convenient than the pill, with a lower failure rate](http://time.com/the-best-form-of-birth-control-is-the-one-no-one-is-using/), it may prove to be a bigger birth control contender in the future, some health experts say. And there are signs that with increased affordability and access, young women will opt for it. One recent study showed that when teenage girls were counseled about birth control and given their pick for free, a full [72% of them chose the IUD](http://time.com/3453184/free-contraceptives-cut-teen-abortion-rates/). ## Transcript Well with every, not just contraceptive method but any medication, any intervention, there are all the pros, and then there are the cons. The bad things that happen, are what people talk about. There are a lot of misconceptions about the IUD, I know people worry about, lots of cramping, and having to be painful or fertility or other things like that. A lot of the misperceptions are left over, from 30 years ago and have no relevance to the, the devices that we use today. That's really what contributes to the low utilization in the US, is these myths, persist. [ MUSIC ] I, was 16, when I went on the pill, I didn't realize what sort of side effects I was in for. And I, it started off with very minor things, like getting headaches everyday, and then it moved on to like mood changes. And then I learned about the IUD and really was interested in that. It's this kind of like hidden secret that, friends tell each other about, because it's not really talked about otherwise. There is a current bias, for amongst some clinicians. that the IUD's are only indicated for older women, or those who have had all their children or at least one child. I don't really segment my practice that oh this patient is older or had children so she's a good IUD candidate. It's really a good choice for anyone who needs birth control. I heard from a few people before that oh it's really painful, and it makes you more susceptible to infections. Over the last 15 years, all of our research has then looked at IUD use, in these other groups of women. Young women, college age, teenagers, having children, not having children, and realized that all of the fear of pelvic infection, and infertility was not based on evidence. I think that for women my age, they don't even know what it is, or whether it's an option for them, because the first method of birth control that I think that women use is the pill, and it's something that's so common that you don't even think about the other possibilities. If you look at IUD use in the most of Western Europe, it's about 20 %, and in some countries, 30 %. So 1 / 3 of all women who are using birth control, have an IUD, and in America, it's about 5 %. The non- hormonal IUD has a medication that's copper, so we call it the copper IUD. And so the copper ions are released from the copper wire in the T device, and they kill sperm. But instead of having to use that every time there's intercourse, it's just sitting in the uterus at all times. It also, as a secondary back up mechanism of action, it makes the lining of the uterus, not favorable for implantation. The hormonal IUD is impregnated with one hormone, levonorgestrel, which is a type of progestin. That progestin agent is slowly released, in one of the IUD's over five years, and the other one it's three. And it creates a thick cervical mucus plug, which prevents the sperm from swimming up, and again, finding the egg. One of the more common misconceptions is that, it makes your period worse, but there are actually two hormonal types of IUD's that can eliminate your period. The hormonal IUD creates such a thin lining in the uterus, that the normal monthly cycle of buildup, doesn't happen. That's one of the reasons it lightens the menstrual period, and that's one of the thing we love about it. We use that IUD, and it's FDA approved to help women who have terrible periods. The levonorgestrel IUD is the first line, medical method to improve those bad periods. I do have some friends who use it more and more, it's, it's becoming sort of popular, I think because it's so low maintenance. Those of us who've had a lot of clinical experience in our practice. We're hoping that the use in the US, will start to look more like some of our European countries. I think there's a lot of choices, but it can be hard, you know, I wish there was something I wasn't responsible for. 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