ACOG Statement on Congressional Action Regarding Birth Control Misinformation

The following is a statement from Stella Dantas, MD, FACOG, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG):

“ACOG is grateful for the timely and important congressional letter to technology executives regarding the spread of birth control misinformation on social media platforms.

“As congressional leaders note in the letter, data clearly show the deluge of misinformation about reproductive health care, including birth control, on social media. This misinformation can cause real harm for patients by encouraging unsafe methods of contraception; by sharing ineffective methods that expose people to unintended pregnancy; or by scaring people away from safe, effective, evidence-based methods of contraception.

“The data are no surprise to the obstetrician–gynecologists whose patients are harmed by birth control misinformation. We see patients who have become pregnant and who have been injured by use of unsafe, unproven contraceptive methods; we have conversations with people in urgent need of care who no longer trust health care professionals because they have been told by influencers that doctors are lying to them.

“Birth control is a critical part of health care, whether people choose to use it to prevent pregnancy, time their pregnancy, control hormone-related conditions, or for its many other uses. Importantly, birth control is available in many different forms, both hormonal and nonhormonal, so clinicians are equipped to work with their patients to find the right method based on their health, needs, values, and priorities. Sometimes finding the right method can entail many conversations and several trials of different methods, but it should not involve false information from social media influencers.

“Social media misinformation that steers people away from conversations with their clinician does not empower them; it exposes them to potential harm. ACOG thanks Representatives Manning, Caraveo, Chu, Crockett, Frankel, Stevens, Wild, and Williams for their leadership on this critical issue.”

For more, read ACOG’s Facts Are Important: Hormonal Birth Control.