STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here's a fact about birth control that, according to surveys, not everybody understands. Many people who use birth control rely on it for something other than birth control. The same treatments often apply to other medical conditions, and that matters as contraception becomes a subject of debate. Here's Elizabeth Gabriel of Side Effects Public Media.
ELIZABETH GABRIEL, BYLINE: Using birth control is life or death for Kendall Hantelman. When she was 23, her doctor said her bleeding disorder meant she had a 25% chance of dying if she got pregnant.
KENDALL HANTELMAN: So I started taking birth control to stay alive because the doctor told me that I would have better odds playing Russian roulette than getting pregnant.
GABRIEL: She eventually got her tubes tied, but she went into ovarian failure. Nearly 20 years later, she still relies on a hormonal birth control pill.
HANTELMAN: So now I have to take birth control again because my body doesn't make hormones anymore.
GABRIEL: One in seven women who use contraception use it for non-pregnancy-related reasons, like managing medical conditions. That includes blood disorders, endometriosis and other diagnoses. Many people don't view birth control as a necessary medication or understand what it does. A recent survey published in a medical journal found that 17% of doctors from different specialties believe an IUD causes abortion. In fact, those birth control tools prevent fertilization and conception in the first place. Laurie Sobel is the associate director for women's health policy with KFF, a nonprofit health policy organization.
LAURIE SOBEL: I think, really, a lot of this comes down to the misinformation about the definition of contraception versus abortion.
GABRIEL: Now birth control misinformation is entering political debates and influencing lawmakers.
SOBEL: At the state level, we're more seeing other types of laws that could ultimately infringe on the right to contraception.
GABRIEL: Debates around contraception in the U.S. have existed for decades. In the '60s and '70s, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that married people and single women are allowed to use birth control without government restrictions. But some worry the tides may be changing, especially since the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal abortion protections when it overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. At least 17 states and Democrats in Congress have tried to protect birth control, but efforts have been blocked. Some Republicans say they support the use of contraception but worry Democrats' attempts could be a gateway to allowing abortion. That leaves birth control users like Asche York fearful for the future.
ASCHE YORK: I wouldn't be able to live a decent life.
GABRIEL: Blackouts from period pain caused York to lose a job and fail college classes. Their contraceptive implant turned things around.
YORK: I don't want, every time I try to enjoy my life or improve my life, to backtrack because I'm in bed for eight days.
GABRIEL: Some medical providers are also worried. Maram Said is a gynecologic surgeon in Indiana. Said lists birth control as a necessary medication in her patients' charts. It's an extra step she now takes in case lawmakers restrict access to contraception in the future.
MARAM SAID: To even think that those situations would be limited is very scary for us as gynecologists and for my patients who rely on those medications.
GABRIEL: The first Trump administration allowed employers with religious objections to choose not to cover their employees' birth control. Doctors like Said are worried about the future of birth control access across the country.
For NPR News, I'm Elizabeth Gabriel in Indianapolis.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.