--- title: This Is the Most Common Type of Contraception In the U.S. description: A new report says about two-thirds of U.S. women are using contraception. IUDs, birth control pills and sterilization are all common. canonical: https://time.com/5482918/female-contraception-us/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-19T15:33:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:17:53.805Z article:section: Health og:title: The Most Common Type of Birth Control In the U.S. Might Surprise You og:description: About two-thirds of women use some form of it og:url: https://time.com/5482918/female-contraception-us/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20b89acac69ee4c3/6987788606f2c181f13333e7/birth-control-pills-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Birth Control Pills og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Most Common Type of Birth Control In the U.S. Might Surprise You twitter:description: About two-thirds of women use some form of it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20b89acac69ee4c3/6987788606f2c181f13333e7/birth-control-pills-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 03:12 video:published: 2015-01-22 section: history topics: birth control, contraception history, ancient contraceptives, condoms, vulcanized rubber, anti-obscenity laws, oral contraceptive pill, FDA approval, reproductive access, developing countries genre: explainer, historical overview tones: lighthearted, informative, wry, curious emotions: amusement (medium), curiosity (medium), concern (low) sentiment: neutral audience: general readers, history enthusiasts, health-curious viewers, students people: Soranus, Casanova, Margaret Sanger organizations: FDA products: oral contraceptive pill, condom, IUD, Lysol, Coca-Cola content_suitability: sexual content [00:00-03:12]; death [00:25-00:32]; health controversy [00:25-00:48] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # The Most Common Type of Birth Control In the U.S. Might Surprise You > Sponsored content. 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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=2ba92709-9817-40f6-b04d-c5a2d94a7451&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The History of Birth Control [Watch (HLS stream): The History of Birth Control](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4oCau3Jn.m3u8) (3:12)  _Published 2015-01-22. For as long as men and women have been having children, they’ve been trying to figure out how not to. Artifacts dating back to ancient times have shown that contraceptives have been used for thousands of years._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video traces the history of birth control from ancient times to the modern era. It describes dangerous and ineffective methods used in ancient China, Egypt, Greece and medieval Europe, along with some early methods that foreshadowed modern contraception. It then covers the mass production of condoms after vulcanized rubber, restrictive US obscenity laws, and the FDA's 1960 approval of the oral contraceptive pill, ending with the lack of global access to contraception today. ## Key points - Ancient Chinese concubines drank a cocktail of lead and mercury, which caused sterility, brain damage, kidney failure and death. (00:25) - Ancient Egyptian women inserted a paste of honey, sodium carbonate and crocodile dung before sex. (00:40) - In the year 200 in Greece, a gynecologist named Soranus advised women to hold their breath during intercourse and sneeze afterward. (00:48) - Ancient cave drawings in France appear to show an early version of the condom. (01:15) - Casanova's 18th-century memoirs describe using partially squeezed lemon halves as a contraceptive. (01:27) - The mid-1800s patenting of vulcanized rubber allowed condoms to be mass produced. (01:34) - US anti-obscenity laws restricted anyone, including doctors, from spreading information about contraception. (01:47) - In 1960 the FDA approved an oral contraceptive pill, and within five years millions of American women had prescriptions for it. (02:16) - A 2013 report found 222 million women in developing countries wanted birth control but lacked access to it. (02:45) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:48] Dangerous ancient contraceptive methods. Ancient Chinese, Egyptian and Greek methods of preventing pregnancy, many of them harmful or ineffective. - [00:48 to 01:34] Medieval beliefs and early precursors. Medieval European superstitions and ancient artifacts that show early versions of modern contraception. - [01:34 to 02:16] Rubber condoms and restrictive laws. Mass production of condoms and the US restrictions that limited women's access to contraception. - [02:16 to 03:12] Oral pill and global access today. The 1960 approval of the pill, later forms of contraception, and the continuing global gap in access. ## Key quotes - [00:00] narrator: "For as long as men and women have been having children, they've been trying to figure out how not to." - [00:19] narrator: "Unsurprisingly, not every method was all that effective." - [01:02] narrator: "women believed tying weasel testicles to their thighs or around their necks during sex would prevent pregnancy." - [02:09] narrator: "Advertisements for Lysol even endorsed the product as a way for women to protect their married happiness." - [02:55] narrator: "a whopping 99 % of women of child bearing age say that they've used some form of contraception." ## Questions this video answers - What dangerous methods did ancient China use to prevent pregnancy? [00:25] - What unusual contraceptive methods did ancient Egyptian women use? [00:40] - Did early cultures have versions of modern contraception such as condoms? [01:15] - Why did women in the 19th and early 20th centuries struggle to get effective contraception? [01:47] - When and how did the oral contraceptive pill become available? [02:16] - How many women in developing countries lack access to birth control? [02:45] ## Content suitability - sexual content [00:00-03:12]: The video discusses contraception, sexual intercourse and reproduction in a historical and educational context. - death [00:25-00:32]: Mentions death as a side effect of ancient lead and mercury contraceptive use. - health controversy [00:25-00:48]: Describes dangerous and harmful ancient contraceptive methods.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 19, 2018 3:33 PM UTC For as long as men and women have been having children, they’ve been trying to figure out how not to. Artifacts dating back to ancient times have shown that contraceptives have been used for thousands of years.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 19, 2018 3:33 PM UTC Most women in the U.S. between the ages of 15 and 49 use contraception, [according to federal data](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db327-h.pdf) released Wednesday — and the most common form is permanent. According to the new report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which polled women from 2015 to 2017, sterilization was the most common contraceptive method for the roughly 47 million women in this age range. Almost 19% of women relied on female sterilization — a permanent procedure that involves either cutting, sealing, tying or [manually blocking](http://time.com/5344646/bayer-essure-birth-control-sales/) the fallopian tubes — for birth control. Almost 13% of women said they used birth control pills, followed by about 10% who used long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) such as [intrauterine devices](http://time.com/4746242/iud-birth-control/) (IUDs). Almost 9% of women used the male condom for birth control, and almost 6% relied on a male parter’s sterilization, which is performed through a vasectomy. Smaller proportions of women used methods including rings, patches, diaphragms and injections. Female sterilization is most common among older women. Since the procedure is irreversible, doctors usually recommend it only to women who are finished having children or know they do not want to at any point. About 40% of women ages 40 to 49 rely on female sterilization for birth control, according to the report — which may partially explain why women in this age group were the most likely to be using any type of contraception, along with factors like not wishing to expand existing families. Pills, meanwhile, were more commonly used by women in their teens and twenties than by older women. LARCs and condoms were more popular among women in their twenties and thirties than those in their teens or forties. Teen birth rates are [at a record low](http://time.com/4843652/teen-birth-rates-record-low/) — but contraception use in this age bracket is also fairly low, the report showed. Just 37% of women ages 15 to 19 said they were using contraception. The latest numbers represent a slight overall increase in contraception use. Almost 65% of women in the survey said they used contraception, but that number was around 62% [between 2002 and 2015](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/key%5Fstatistics/c.htm#contraception). The uptick can be partially explained by surveying methods: The new report was based on more than 5,500 responses to the 2015-2017 National Survey of Family Growth, which for the first time expanded its age range to include women aged 45 to 49, a demographic with high rates of contraception use. Other possible explanations include [expanded access to birth control](http://time.com/3948649/birth-control-affordable-care-act/) under the Affordable Care Act, [changing attitudes toward having children](http://time.com/5425376/fertility-rates-report/) and the [increasing popularity](http://time.com/4650190/iud-trump-election/) of permanent and long-term options like female sterilization and [IUDs](http://time.com/4746242/iud-birth-control/). ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] For as long [00:04] as men and women have been having children, they've [00:07] been trying to figure out how not to. Artifacts [00:13] dating back to ancient times have shown that [00:15] contraceptives have been used for thousands of years. [00:19] Unsurprisingly, not every method was all that effective. [00:25] In ancient China, concubines would drink a cocktail of [00:28] lead and mercury. Unfortunately, the side effects [00:32] included sterility, brain damage. Kidney failure and [00:35] death. Ancient Egyptian women would mix honey, [00:40] sodium carbonate, and crocodile dung into a thick [00:43] paste they would insert into themselves before having [00:45] sex. In [00:48] Greece in the year 200 a gynecologist named Soranus. [00:53] Advised women to hold their breathe during [00:55] intercourse and sneeze afterward. [ SNEEZE ] And in [00:59] the Middle Ages in Europe, women believed tying [01:02] weasel testicles to their thighs or around their necks [01:04] during sex would prevent pregnancy. Huh? But it [01:08] wasn't all a shot in the dark. Many modern forms of [01:12] contraception have roots in the ancient past. For [01:15] example, ancient cave drawings found in France [01:18] appear to show an early version of the condom and a [01:20] prototype of the cervical cap has been used since [01:23] Casanova's days. In his memoirs written in the 18th [01:27] century he describes using partially squeezed lemon [01:30] halves to do the trick. [ MUSIC ] The modern history of [01:34] not having babies begins in the mid 1800's. When [01:38] vulcanized rubber was patented and condoms could [01:40] be mass produced. [ MUSIC ] [01:43] Yet for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries [01:47] women had a hard time getting their hands on [01:48] effective contraception. Contraception. Anti- obscenity [01:51] laws in the US restricted anyone, including doctors, [01:55] from spreading information about it. But that didn't [01:58] stop women from trying to prevent pregnancy. Many [02:02] women would use household products, such as Lysol [02:05] or Coca- Cola, which they believed would kill sperm. [02:07] [ MUSIC ] [02:09] Advertisements for Lysol even endorsed the product as [02:12] a way for women to protect their married happiness. [02:16] All of that changed in 1960 when the FDA approved an [02:20] oral contraceptive pill thanks to the tireless efforts of [02:23] activist Margaret Sanger. And a team of doctors. Within [02:27] five years millions of American women had [02:29] prescriptions for the pill. In the following decades other [02:33] forms of reliable contraception appeared, including [02:36] IUD's. Safe and effective birth control still isn't [02:40] a universal privilege. A 2013 report found that 222 [02:45] million women from developing countries around the [02:47] world. Said they wanted to use birth control but didn't [02:51] have access to it. But in the US, a whopping [02:55] 99 % of women of child bearing age say that they've [02:58] used some form of contraception. No crocodile dung [03:02] required. 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