--- title: Bayer Will No Longer Sell Controversial Essure Birth Control description: Bayer announced that it will no longer sell Essure, a permanent form of birth control, in the U.S. Thousands have sued Bayer over Essure. canonical: https://time.com/5344646/bayer-essure-birth-control-sales/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-20T19:28:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T18:37:57.000Z article:section: Health og:title: Bayer Will No Longer Sell Controversial Birth Control That Sparked Thousands of Lawsuits og:description: More than 16,000 lawsuits have been filed by women who used Essure og:url: https://time.com/5344646/bayer-essure-birth-control-sales/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb69509e760d08390/698935e07cdbac6d1ad5d787/bayer-birth-control.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bayer-birth-control og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bayer Will No Longer Sell Controversial Birth Control That Sparked Thousands of Lawsuits twitter:description: More than 16,000 lawsuits have been filed by women who used Essure twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb69509e760d08390/698935e07cdbac6d1ad5d787/bayer-birth-control.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bayer to Stop Selling Controversial Birth Control Device That Sparked Thousands of Lawsuits > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:37 PM UTCPublished: Jul 20, 2018 7:28 PM UTC  This image provided by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals shows the birth control implant Essure. This image provided by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals shows the birth control implant Essure. Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals via AP  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:37 PM UTCPublished: Jul 20, 2018 7:28 PM UTC Bayer announced Friday that it will no longer sell a controversial, permanent form of birth control that thousands of women say led to serious complications. [Essure](http://www.essure.com/what-is-essure), a non-surgical sterilization device that is inserted into the fallopian tubes and prevents pregnancy by producing scar tissue that blocks sperm from fertilizing eggs, will no longer be available in the U.S. after December 31, 2018, [Bayer announced in a statement](https://www.bayer.us/en/article.php?id=123229). “This decision is based on a decline in U.S. sales of Essure in recent years and the conclusion that the Essure business is no longer sustainable,” the statement reads. While Bayer maintains that “the safety and efficacy of Essure have not changed,” many women have different stories. More than 16,000 lawsuits have been filed against Bayer in relation to Essure, citing complications ranging from migraines and hair loss to organ perforation and unintended or dangerous pregnancies, [according to ConsumerSafety.org](https://www.consumersafety.org/legal/essure-lawsuit/). Many of these women have chronicled their ordeals in [Essure Problems](https://www.facebook.com/groups/Essureproblems), a nearly 37,000-member Facebook group for women who are “suffering or have suffered from side effects which may be attributed to Essure.” The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which approved Essure in 2002, has also taken steps to warn women of the risks associated with the device. In 2016, it [ordered Bayer to conduct](https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm488313.htm) a post-market safety study and to add warning labels and a patient risk checklist to the device’s packaging. This April, the FDA significantly [restricted sales and distribution](https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm604098.htm) of Essure. “Since the FDA ordered Bayer to conduct the post-market study and then to add a boxed warning and a Patient Decision Checklist to the labeling, there has been an approximate 70 percent decline in sales of Essure in the U.S,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in an April statement. About 750,000 women have been implanted with the device since its approval. Bayer, however, maintains that other factors are behind the product’s drop in popularity. “Several factors have contributed to declining interest in Essure among women in the U.S., including decreased use of permanent contraception overall, increased reliance on other birth control options, such as long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), and inaccurate and misleading publicity about the device,” the company said in its statement. 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