The same strategy that weakened abortion rights—misinformation, incremental restrictions and attacks on access—is now being deployed against contraception.
The United States is on its way to banning or severely restricting birth control.
I know this statement will be met with incredulity—but I would refer you to the disbelief so many of us in the reproductive health field faced when we warned that the constitutional right to abortion was in danger. Nearly four years later, we are living in this reality that so many dismissed as alarmist fantasy.
I remember sitting on a bench in my local dog park in April 2022, chatting with a visibly pregnant woman who looked aghast when I said the Supreme Court was going to overturn Roe v. Wade. Many of us knew that this was on the horizon. We’d known for decades. But our warnings went unheeded and unprioritized. A few weeks later, on June 24, 2022, Roe was indeed overturned.
If the anti-contraception tactics we see today look extremely familiar, it’s because they come straight from the antiabortion playbook: spreading mis- and disinformation, advancing incremental regressive policies, and denying problems with access—the same tactics that helped pave the way for the eventual overturning of Roe.
Today, we are seeing the same tactics applied to contraception: efforts to ban certain methods or falsely label them as “abortifacients”; attempts to eliminate or repurpose the federal funding that people with lower incomes rely on for contraceptive care; and campaigns to sow doubt about the safety and effectiveness of birth control, even though most Americans across party lines agree it should be accessible.
Anti-contraception policies are now undergirded by a proliferation of mis- and disinformation, softening the ground online and beyond.
Those opposed to contraception recognize that its popularity is a hurdle. The Heritage Foundation admits as much in its piece “RFK Should Grill the Pill“:
“Calling for restrictions on birth control pills would likely cause a frenzy among many.”
So instead of supporting policies that improve access to something as safe and popular as contraception, they use scare tactics and falsehoods to steer people, especially young women, away.
From MAHA wellness influencers to Evie magazine, an entire industry is working to convince young women that using birth control is harmful to them, dressing mis- and disinformation up as “wellness.”
Power to Decide created an AI-enabled social media monitoring platform to analyze social media video content and identify trending sexual and reproductive health mis- and disinformation. We can spot which specific narratives are gaining traction online, and providers are hearing these narratives repeated verbatim by patients in the exam room.
Contraception remains extremely popular and widely used. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hailed contraception as one of the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th century. Almost all people will use birth control at some point during their reproductive years.
So how could contraception follow the same path that abortion access has? As advocates, we are once again being met with disbelief and dismissal when we sound the alarm that bans on birth control begin with erosion of trust and outright lies.
Anti-contraception sentiment is gaining traction: A 2024 poll from KFF found that “one in seven women ages 18 to 25 (14 percent) say they made a change or thought about making a change to their birth control method because of something they saw or heard on social media.”
The annual 2026 Gallup American Values Survey found that 83 percent of Americans believe using birth control is morally acceptable—still the vast majority, but a decrease from 90 percent in 2025. Since birth control was added to the survey in 2012, it has always topped the list as most morally acceptable—followed closely by divorce and sex outside of marriage—and it does this year as well. While this 7 percent drop should be viewed in context, I fear it signals that the sheer volume of coordinated money, resources and time being spent to shift the Overton Window on contraception is having an impact.
If the anti-contraception tactics we see today look extremely familiar, it’s because they are coming straight from the antiabortion playbook.
It is unsettling to think that birth control could follow the same path that abortion access has. Before Roe was overturned, access to abortion was already out of reach for those who depended on public insurance like Medicaid and lived in red states where state Medicaid funds were not used to cover abortion care. This disproportionately limited access to abortion for Black and Brown women, as well as those living in rural areas or with low incomes. They could not afford to travel, take time off for multiple appointments needed due to mandatory waiting periods, or surmount the myriad other barriers enacted prior to the fall of Roe.
Then Roe fell, and we saw increasing stories of people having to jump through hoops simply to get healthcare being denied emergency care and even the deaths of pregnant people denied emergency care in banned states. In real time we can see how bans, restrictions and denial of bodily autonomy anywhere cause harms everywhere. If anti-contraceptive policies are allowed to persist these harms will only continue to be exacerbated.
Disbelief about the threat to contraception is likely due to the fact that, to date, policies limiting access have mostly affected people of color and low income communities. Meanwhile, anti-birth control efforts targeted to more privileged women have largely taken the form of influencer campaigns designed to stoke fear and encourage them to voluntarily stop using and trusting birth control. Make no mistake, it doesn’t stop there. It never has, and it never will.
Everyone deserves access to medically accurate information about the full range of contraceptive options. Knowing where to turn for trusted information, like Power to Decide’s Bedsider.org resource, and thinking critically about what the algorithm is feeding are essential ways to fight mis- and disinformation.
Attacks on contraception will keep coming. Advocates will keep sounding the alarm. It is up to all of us to fight for a future where every person has the ability to make their own reproductive health decisions.
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A note from Ms. editors: We want to hear from you for The Majority, a new campaign collecting stories about how reproductive freedom has enabled readers to build the lives they want and need. Poll after poll shows a majority of Americans support reproductive healthcare access. Yet public debate overlooks the lives shaped by abortion access, contraception, IVF, miscarriage care, maternal healthcare or comprehensive sex education—countless women who chose to pursue an education, have children, not have children, protect their health and chart their own future. Add your voice and complete the sentence: “Access to reproductive choices gave me the freedom to….” Together, these stories will help show not only why reproductive freedom remains a majority value, but also what it makes possible.
Look to these trusted groups if you or a loved one needs to know more about reliable abortion care:
- A one-stop-shop for abortion seekers: I Need An A
- Safe websites to buy abortion medication: Aid Access, Plan C Pills, Abortion Finder
- If you need help affording abortion care, contact an abortion fund near you.
- To protect your digital privacy when planning your abortion, click here.
- For free legal help as a patient or doctor, call If/When/How’s Repro Helpline: 844-868-2812
- For medical advice, contact the Miscarriage & Abortion Hotline: 833-246-2632
- If you need to know the abortion law in your state, look to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
