Reframing the IUD Initiative

Principal Investigators and Research Partners: 

Anu Manchikanti Gomez, PhD (University of California, Berkeley)

Summary and Findings: 

For too long, IUDs have been inaccessible to women in the US. In recent years, the availability of new IUDs, training of healthcare providers and policy reforms have made IUDs increasingly available, with IUDs framed as empowering and an important "tool" to reduce population-level unintended pregnancy rates.

But the unbridled enthusiasm for IUDs and implants (another long-acting, reversible contraceptive method) has raised important questions about reproductive justice and health equity, as groups whose fertility has been and continues to be devalued are the targets of interventions. This research sets out to center women's experiences, preferences and desires with contraception to understand reasons why women want to, can't and don't desire to use IUDs.