One of the things that makes the IUD so much more effective than other kinds of reversible birth control is once it's in, it is hassle free. A woman never has to open a package or take a pill to make it effective. A woman who has an IUD receives up to ten years of highly effective hassle-free protection. This should come as welcome news in the United States, where 49% of pregnancies are unplanned. Unplanned pregnancies are a particularly large problem among women between the ages of 18 and 20, as well as women who were using birth control at the time of conception.

There are two kinds of IUD: the copper-wound Paragard and the Mirena which releases progestin into the uterus. The copper in the copper IUD is thought to disable sperm, while the Mirena IUD releases the same hormone that's in progestin-only birth control pills. Neither type of IUD causes a low-grade infection in the uterus, which is another of the misperceptions about IUDs.

What's particularly nice about the copper IUD is that it provides birth control that is more effective than the pill without releasing any of the pill's hormones into a woman's body. The copper-IUD can cause increased menstrual bleeding the first couple of months, but this usually returns to normal. For women who have naturally severe periods or who want to stop having periods altogether, the IUD which releases progestin might be the better choice.

While an IUD won't prevent sexually transmitted infections, it won't make a woman any more likely to get an STI than if she used no birth control at all. If she does get a sexually transmitted infection, she would need to blame that on her partner, not on her IUD. Most STIs and other infections can be treated with an IUD in place.

The reason why IUDs have been so slow to catch on in the United States is because of an unfortunate chapter in IUD history. This was when an unscrupulous company produced an IUD with a string which was made of a material that wicked bacteria into the womb from the vagina. The company knew the strings were causing infections, but kept making and selling them. (The IUD itself wasn't the problem, only the string.)

There was a much worse chapter than this in the history of the tampon. A number of women died from using badly designed tampons, but few women today think twice about using tampons. No women died from using the IUDs, but the IUD was never able to shake the bad rap here in the US. Talk about the power of having the right public relations firm!