--- title: More Women Are Getting the IUD and Implant for Birth Control description: American women are increasingly opting for the most effective forms of birth control: an intrauterine device (IUD) or an implant, new data shows. canonical: https://time.com/4066344/mirena-iud-birth-control-contraception/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-08T16:16:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:19.570Z article:section: Health og:title: More Women Are Getting the IUD and Implant for Birth Control og:description: American women are increasingly opting for the most effective forms of birth control: an intrauterine device (IUD) or an implant, new data shows. og:url: https://time.com/4066344/mirena-iud-birth-control-contraception/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfffc9dffd9430b02/69877df65f570f94ccb1521e/iud.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: IUD birthcontrol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: More Women Are Getting the IUD and Implant for Birth Control twitter:description: American women are increasingly opting for the most effective forms of birth control: an intrauterine device (IUD) or an implant, new data shows. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfffc9dffd9430b02/69877df65f570f94ccb1521e/iud.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # More Women Are Getting the IUD and Implant for Birth Control > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 8, 2015 4:16 PM UTC  Intrauterine device --- Image by © Timothy Hogan/Corbis Intrauterine device --- Image by © Timothy Hogan/Corbis Photo Illustration by Mia Tramz for TIME; Corbis by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 8, 2015 4:16 PM UTC American women are increasingly opting for the most effective forms of birth control: an [intrauterine device (IUD)](http://time.com/the-best-form-of-birth-control-is-the-one-no-one-is-using/) or an implant, [new data shows](http://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Abstract/publishahead/Changes%5Fin%5FUse%5Fof%5FLong%5FActing%5FReversible.98922.aspx). A new report released Thursday by the Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit research organization, shows the percentage of U.S. women who use an IUD or implant—known as long-lasting reversible contraceptives (LARC)—increased from around 9% in 2009 to nearly 12% in 2012\. (Prior Guttmacher data shows that in 2002, only 2.4% of American women used LARC methods.) To reach these numbers, the Guttmacher Institute looked at national survey data of women ages 15 to 44 and found that the use of LARC increased across all demographic groups of women, but spiked most among Hispanic women, women with private health insurance, women who never had kids and women with fewer than two sexual partners in the last year. **MORE**: [The Teen Birth Rate Is Now At An All-Time Low](http://time.com/3924069/teen-birth-rate/) “LARC methods have the potential to significantly decrease unintended pregnancy in the United States because they are ‘set and forget,’ meaning they require no intervention from women, resulting in greater effectiveness,” the report study author Megan L. Kavanaugh said in a statement about the research.  **MORE**: [More Women Are Getting An IUD Right After Giving Birth](http://time.com/4063230/iud-giving-birth/) LARC methods have a failure rate of less than 1% and are considered to be the most effective forms of reversible birth control currently available. [Other national data](http://time.com/3719120/iuds-are-getting-more-popular-with-american-women/) published this year also found that more U.S. women are using the IUD or implant than in the past. It’s also a popular method among women in the medical field; another 2015 [study](http://time.com/3719120/iuds-are-getting-more-popular-with-american-women/) published in the journal _Contraception_ showed that among 500 female health care providers, 42% used LARC—a much higher rate than the general population. _Read Next:_ [_How The IUD Is Overcoming Bad PR_](http://time.com/the-best-form-of-birth-control-is-the-one-no-one-is-using/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4066344/mirena-iud-birth-control-contraception/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4066344/mirena-iud-birth-control-contraception/"},"headline":"More Women Are Getting the IUD and Implant for Birth Control","datePublished":"2015-10-08T16:16:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:19.570Z","description":"New survey data shows that long-acting contraceptives are increasingly popular","url":"https://time.com/4066344/mirena-iud-birth-control-contraception/","keywords":["Sex/Relationships","Public Health","Sex","contraception","Contraceptives","Birth Control","IUD"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfffc9dffd9430b02/69877df65f570f94ccb1521e/iud.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfffc9dffd9430b02/69877df65f570f94ccb1521e/iud.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"IUD birthcontrol","caption":"IUD birthcontrol","creditText":"Photo Illustration by Mia Tramz for TIME; Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/sexrelationships/","name":"Sex/Relationships"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4066344/mirena-iud-birth-control-contraception/","name":"More Women Are Getting the IUD and Implant for Birth Control"}}]}] ```