You Deserve Reliable Information to Make Choices About Birth Control

Social media and limited national standards around sex education means sexual and reproductive health misinformation and disinformation can run rampant. Especially when it comes to birth control, the wrong information can lead to knowledge gaps and limit access to contraceptive care. Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and practicing physician, sits down to talk with us about mis- and disinformation around birth control.

Recent research from Power to Decide found that, while 38% of young people received information on contraception from social media, many of the same people wanted to receive that information from a health provider. Additional research found that 28% of young people who haven't received birth control information in the last year did not believe that birth control was safe. Examples of mis- and disinformation often include links between oral contraception and cancer, contraception and fertility, and the conflation of contraception and abortion (for example, many politicians compare emergency contraception and IUDs to abortifacients). Correcting mis- and disinformation surrounding contraception will open more doors for those requiring care and increase patient knowledge and confidence. 

Links from this episode

Power to Decide on Facebook
Power to Decide on X
Sexual and Reproductive Health in Emergencies: Promising Practices to Address the Crisis  within a Crisis
It’s Time to End the 40-Year Legacy of the Global Gag Rule
Bedsider.org

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Transcript

Jennie: Welcome to rePROs Fight Back, a podcast on all things related to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. [music intro]

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Hey rePROs, how's everybody doing? I'm your host Jennie Wetter and my pronouns are she/her. So, y'all, it's been like a busy little stretch for rePROs recently. I think I might have already talked about this on last week's episode, but if not, first we had a webinar where I talked about our 50-state report card and what is happening around sexual reproductive health and rights on the state level. And we had an amazing guest, we had Erin Reed on. She's an independent reporter who covers LGBTQ+ issues, especially trans issues at the state levels. She was outstanding. So, if you wanna make sure you don't miss things like that when they happen again, make sure you sign up for our mailing list. If you go to our website, there's a popup box that'll come up where you can sign up to make sure that you are getting our emails. You get an email when new episodes come out, so you'd never miss an episode. And when we have things like this webinar happening or a new publication or something that comes out. So, also last week Rachel, who is our public policy manager, released an amazing op-ed talking about the global gag rule, how at 40 years old it's gotta go. It is way past time; it is causing harms. It's a really amazing op-ed, you should definitely check it out. We'll include links to it in the show notes. But yeah, make sure to read Rachel's op-ed. And then also, honestly, I think the same day we also released a new brief by our senior fellow Gayatri Patel, talking about sexual and reproductive health in emergency settings. So, like humanitarian settings and making sure, showing why it's important that people are getting their sexual and reproductive health needs met and also what needs to be done to ensure that that happens. Gayatri will be on the podcast in the near future. We'll talk more about the brief so you can hear about it, but if you wanna read it, make sure to go check out our social media. You can find it there or you can find it on our website. It's really wonderful and it's been so much fun working with Gayatri and I can't wait to have her on the podcast to talk about it. So yes, make sure to read Rachel's op-ed, make sure to read Gayatri's brief and sign up for our email newsletter to make sure you don't miss an episode. Let's see what else. It's been, it's, like, actually starting to be like summer-y already here in DC. The end of April, there were, like, already 90 degree days, which I am not super on board with. I just, like, ease me into it a little more. It's really nice out right now though. So, I am excited to have my windows open and be able to enjoy the gorgeous weather. So, hopefully it holds out for a little while longer. And I was excited to go out to dinner with a friend last week and we hit up a restaurant that I've been meaning to go to for a long time. José Andrés has several restaurants in DC but he opened a new one…I mean, I don't know if it's that new anymore anyway, like a year or so ago, maybe longer…that I hadn't been to yet that kind of brings a lot of the flavors from all of his restaurants into it. And it was so fun that it's in an old hotel and it was gorgeous and it was so much fun to see my friend to have this really fun dining experience and we had a gift card so it was not even very expensive. So, it was wonderful and I can't wait to go back and try more things because honestly everything we had was pretty delightful. Yeah, so I feel like that's mostly what's been up with me and I'm really excited to get to this week's episode so I think we're just gonna end it there and go to this week's interview. I am very excited to have on today's podcast, Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley with Power to Decide to talk all about mis- and disinformation that we are seeing around birth control. With that, let's go to my interview with Dr. Raegan.

Jennie: Hi Dr. Raegan, thank you so much for being here.

Dr. Raegan: Thank you so much for having me.

Jennie: So, before we dig into our conversation, do you wanna take a quick second and introduce yourself and include your pronouns?

Dr. Raegan: Absolutely. I'm Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley. I use she/her pronouns and I am the CEO of Power to Decide. I'm also a practicing physician who includes contraception and abortion care in my practice.

Jennie: I am so excited to have you on here to talk about misinformation around birth control. And while it's nothing new, it really seems to have taken on a new life recently. Do you maybe wanna talk a little bit about what we're seeing right now?

Dr. Raegan: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean we're seeing a ton of misinformation and disinformation, particularly in social media platforms and it's really scary. And I think, you know, just to sort of level set, right, like misinformation, we definitely see as unintentional. And sadly, because we don't have any national standards around sexual health education, it's pretty pervasive 'cause lots of people just never learned about, like, their bodies or pregnancy or how contraception works, right? And unfortunately, that situation allows misinformation to propagate because people will see something online or a TikTok video and then they'll take it as fact or truth, right? But that is unintentional. And then there's disinformation, which is like actually understanding the difference or knowing what is right and what is not right, but choosing to propagate the wrong information intentionally, which is usually done, you know, to ultimately propagate policy changes that will decrease access to contraception. And we're seeing more and more of that as well, particularly around conflating contraception with abortion, right? So, politicians saying like, emergency contraception is an abortifacient or IUDs is an abortifacient, like absolutely wrong, you know, more than likely they know that a hundred percent, but they're saying those things and because we know with all of the growing attacks on abortion access, the obvious next step is then to restrict access to contraception. So, it's chaos and confusion and extremely dangerous.

Jennie: Yeah, this is one of those things, it takes me back to my days of sex education. Definitely in heavy air quotes, I've talked about this on the podcast before, I went to Catholic school, I had sex ed from a nun. I had "Valuing Your Sexuality" from a nun, not sex education. And there was a lot of disinformation that, like, it lasts and lots of, I don't know, conversations about- I do remember conversations around birth control, but it was definitely like, it doesn't work, it's bad, and condoms aren't effective, like…

Dr. Raegan: That it’ll make you depressed?

Jennie: Yeah. And then there was like the misinformation you got from like your peers of like, oh, I heard this or I heard that, and it, you were just awash in it. And I feel like it's, like, just really kicked up in this new social media age.

Dr. Raegan: Totally, right? Because now you know, you post a video instead of, like, reaching a classroom of 20 kids, you post a video and it's reaching, you know, hundreds of people, maybe even thousands, maybe even millions of people. And it's hard for people to be able to differentiate facts from opinion, particularly when you have, you know, people who are supposed to be smart in trusted positions saying these things that either they don't understand aren't true or knowing the difference and still saying the wrong thing intentionally.

Jennie: So, you know, I think it's also really important to connect that it's not just misinformation and disinformation does actual harm. And I think that's really important to talk about. So, what are some of the impacts that we can see? So, we talked a little bit about policy, but I'm sure it's also impacting people's access or questions they ask when they go in to get care.

Dr. Raegan: Yeah, absolutely. Like, misinformation is pervasive as we've discussed, and knowledge gaps affect access. Access to information is a health equity issue, right? Like it's foundational. Having sufficient, accurate, resonant information is essential to ensuring someone's reproductive wellbeing and necessary to taking the next step to access care. If someone doesn't believe that birth control is safe, right, because they saw a TikTok video or read something online or talked to a friend and they were like, it's dangerous, then they're not gonna feel comfortable, you know, talking to a provider and accessing birth control. So, it's essential. And we are finding in our research that it is impacting people's access to contraception. So, we did a poll in 2022 for our Thanks Birth Control campaign and found that 38% of young people say that they received information about birth control from social media. So that's interesting, like Twitter and TikTok, but more of those folks wanted to receive information from a provider. So, there's a huge gap in terms of being able to talk to a provider and where people are accessing information. And part of the work that we're doing is trying to fill that gap by, you know, creating spaces like #AskDrRaegan, where people are receiving information online where they're already sort of spending a lot of time, but also receiving that from a trusted source with accurate evidence-based information. But we did find in our survey as well that 28% of young people who haven't received birth control information in the last year, did not believe that birth control was safe, right? So, that means that they didn't think birth control was safe and therefore there was a correlation between their inability or their lack of access to contraception. So, it's absolutely impacting people's willingness and ability to get contraception that they may or may not need. Our poll also showed that seven in 10 young adults incorrectly thought that emergency contraception could end a pregnancy in its early stages. And by the way, it's not just young people. There was a study done recently that a number of providers—I think 30% of providers—thought that emergency contraception could end in early pregnancy, and many of them also thought that IUDs could end in early pregnancy. So, we have a lot of work to do to correct this misinformation to make sure that people feel comfortable accessing contraceptive care.

Jennie: Yeah, and I really think like you hear the misinformation that gets into you, and you may not know the questions you need to ask your provider. I know when I was young and going, I wasn't getting a ton of information. Like, there wasn't the fuller patient-centered conversations around the different types of birth controls. So, like, I didn't even know the questions to ask, right? And then add the soup of misinformation on top of it, it just makes it really hard for people to access the care they need or want.

Dr. Raegan: Right. And then, you know, god forbid they actually do become brave and ask the questions, if they ask the wrong person, they may be getting, you know, completely wrong information either intentionally or unintentionally. So, you know, again, we're thinking a lot about the power of these digital tools and platforms and the fact that tons and tons of young people are receiving information and spending a lot of time here and even using it for their sort of source of news, right? And so, the powerful juxtaposition of being able to reach millions and millions of people with, you know, high-quality, evidence-informed information, but there's so much work to do because there's so much crap on these platforms that we have to, like, break through the nonsense to ensure that people know like where they can go to receive high-quality information. But some of the common myths and misconceptions that we're working to combat using digital tools and platforms like TikTok and YouTube are making clear that emergency contraception does not cause abortion. That's a really common one. That contraception generally does not impact people's fertility and ability to get pregnant. That oral contraception does not cause cancer overall and in fact reduces people's risk of cancer. Although there is a slight increased risk of breast cancer, it's important for people to understand that and those nuances. And that generally oral contraception is not linked to depression. Like, these are really, really common myths and misconceptions that I often hear from people both in the healthcare setting and outside of the healthcare setting.

Jennie: Those are all ones I've definitely heard. And I think it gets into also the conversation of how hard it is to correct misinformation and disinformation. I think that gets into, you hear these conversations all the time, I think we heard it around like the vaccine conversations, right? Of, like, how do you get the good information out there without repeating the bad information? Because that can, sometimes they'll hear that part and it'll reinforce what they had already heard. So, like, how do we effectively combat all this mis- and disinformation?

Dr. Raegan: Yeah, I mean I think-

Jennie: I know it's like the million-dollar question.

Dr. Raegan: Right? But we have to, we have to work towards that. So, I think a number of things that we found work really well is number one, like, meeting people where they are, right? And having like sex-positive information that's accessible and even fun using imagery and gifs. Animation can really help. But also making sure that you are providing it as a trusted provider, right? Like, you don't wanna cross the line and be too fun and exciting. And so that someone sort of- that can undermine your voice and your validity. So, right. Finding the right tone of like, this is engaging, this is fun, this is something that you wanna listen to. It has to be short, but also still professional and high-quality. Those are some key, key aspects.

Jennie: Yeah, I, right before this I was looking at some of your Ask Dr. Raegan posts and it was really good to see that information getting out there in, like, easily digestible soundbites.

Dr. Raegan: Absolutely. I mean our attention spans unfortunately because we're all, you know, consuming information in different ways now, are super short, right? Like, how often are people reading long form articles now or like full medical journals and frankly, like, they shouldn't have to to get, you know, basic information to decide what they need or want for their healthcare. And so it's a really great opportunity to be able to translate sometimes complex, sometimes nuanced medical information into bite-sized ways that are much more accessible to people. It's a challenge but it's also a really exciting opportunity.

Jennie: So, I feel like we have focused mostly on like the patient, like, mis- and disinformation, but what struck me as we were talking is like the providers that had like mis- and disinformation, like that feels like this whole other world of like level that you need to like combat mis- and disinformation. Like, how do you reach providers to make sure that they are getting correct information and providing it in a patient-centered way?

Dr. Raegan: That's such a good question and something that we're thinking more and more about, and our approach to reaching providers and correcting misinformation amongst providers is gonna have to be different.

Jennie: Yeah.

Dr. Raegan: Right? Because they think that they know and they may not know what they don't know and we don't want to automatically make them defensive by saying, like, "you don't know what you're talking about." Right? So, finding ways to just elevate for them, like, "hey, did you know that there's a lot of misinformation" is often a good first step, right? So, sort of saying it's like secondhand, like do you know that other providers, not you of course, but, like, other providers have a lot of misinformation and your patients too and let us help, you know, provide you with some resources that you might need or want around that. So, we're testing some different approaches now and actually in collaboration with a group called the Contraceptive Access Initiative, just conducted focus groups with providers to find out compelling ways to sort of discuss and address misinformation amongst providers. So, we'll have a lot more to share in the coming months, but it's something that we're thinking a lot about, and we'll likely create a toolkit posted on our website powertodecide.org soon.

Jennie: I mean that intuitively feels like a really smart way to do it of, like, hey, there is this big spike in mis- and disinformation that's going around that your patients may hear. Let's help make sure you have all of the information, so you know how to combat those questions, like, deal with those questions or help ease any concerns. Like, that feels like an open and friendly way to broach that conversation hopefully.

Dr. Raegan: I hope it works, but you know, we have a long way to go, right? Like, we have people in very high places like the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who was on record in 2023 saying that, like, emergency contraception is an abortifacient period. As if that's fact. And so, you know, a provider could hear that and it's like, oh, if he's saying it must be true, right? And so again, they're not not doing this to be malicious or to misinform their patients, but we have a lot of work to do to correct the record.

Jennie: Well, and I think that gets into like this whole other level of, like, the disinformation of like, I feel like we've just been seeing such terrible junk science coming out recently and like in papers and stuff, in court briefs with like the mife case and stuff where you're seeing it being scientized and like made to seem like it's real and I mean it's been around for years, right? Like, but it really seems to again have, like, sped up where I feel like we're seeing so much more junk science.

Dr. Raegan: Yeah, the weaponization of sort of, like, things that should be trusted sources of information but aren't and is really problematic and again, makes it super, super difficult for, you know, an average person to be able to differentiate if their information is from a trusted source or not, right? Like I think of "crisis pregnancy centers," like physical crisis pregnancy centers, they're designed to look like real clinics. They have people walking around with white coats, they have ultrasound machines, they do pregnancy tests and, like, medical, you know, things. And so, it's really easy for someone to be confused and to think that they're interacting with a valid medical provider when the information in their experience is completely biased and in one direction, right? Like, and so then you sort of translate that to, like, the online setting where it looks and feels like a valid medical journal, for example, or a valid briefing or someone with a lot of degrees behind their name, so they should know what they're talking about. But it's completely biased. And I think some of the ways that, you know, we're trying to train people to differentiate is to consider the source, right? If like, if this sounds really biased and out of line and it sounds like it has an agenda, it probably has an agenda, right? But it can be hard to sort of read through the lines and see that, especially if you're not someone who's entrenched in these issues and thinking about them all the time. If it's using super inflammatory language that makes you feel uncomfortable, like it's probably, you know, a biased source. So, it's really dangerous and scary to see. But I think there's a lot of work that we need to do as a population to sort of train people to be able to identify facts versus opinions and what's real or not. And I think it's gonna get harder and harder too as sort of, like, AI and large language models are being propagated.

Jennie: So, all of this also makes me think back to the beginning of the conversation of like, people are trying to fill gaps that were created by not getting quality sex education. And, like, we know that sex education varies widely state by state school district by school district, sometimes teacher to teacher. Like, this feels like a really core area that we need to make sure that people are getting good quality information. You know, I talked about my experience and like it had lasting harms and people are getting even worse information, no information and looking for answers online and in this sea of mis- and disinformation and...oh man, sex education just feels like one of those really huge gaps that should be, I would like to think easily filled, but you know, years and years later...

Dr. Raegan: 100%. I couldn't agree with you more. I mean someone's exposure to just basic information about their bodies, healthy relationships, contraception, sexually transmitted infections largely depends on what school they happen to go to. And oh, by the way, like, their school's ability to sort of like put resources towards funding sex education that year, even if they're, like, super well-meaning and super, you know, think this is super important, they just, like, may not have the resources to do so. And many, and we know that many, many people go to schools like that it's not a priority. And in fact, like, you know, wouldn't be on the table even if they did have the resources to do it. It depends on that. And then, like, if they win the parental lottery, right? And have parents or champions or adults around them that they can talk to about these things and that is abhorrent, right? And, like, should not be the case in 2024 that people's access to this essential information just largely depends on how lucky they are, what state they happen to live in or what school district like we have to do better as a country. We have to fight for a world where everyone has access to this basic information ubiquitously and stop, you know, irrespective of what state they live in or what school district or who, you know, happens to be their parents or champions around them. And we also have this amazing opportunity to reach people in spaces where they're already consuming a ton of a ton of content, right? So, another really cool thing that we do is to work behind the scenes with television shows and, and movies that young people are watching just to sort of, like, try to help to influence the scripts or provide resources after the television show to say like, hey, this show dealt with content around birth control or sex or healthy relationships. If you want more information, come to bedsider.org, for example. So, that's a lot of the work that we're doing in addition to directly, you know, putting out content on these social media platforms where young people are spending a lot of time. I think a research project recently showed or tracked that people were spending like four to eight hours on social media every day, which is kind of wild to think about, right?

Jennie: Wow.

Dr. Raegan: Yeah.

Jennie: Yeah.

Dr. Raegan: And yet, and still again, it's like a huge opportunity to say, like, if you're already spending a lot of time scrolling through TikTok, if all of a sudden this, like, really important information that you might want or need pops up, you know, and you're sort of passively accessing it and then maybe you take the next steps to research a little more. Like, that's a really positive thing. So, while we need to be fighting for UBI ubiquitous access to like sex-positive inclusive sex ed, we also have to be finding ways to sort of flood all of these areas where young people are already spending a lot of time online with this information that they may want or need.

Jennie: So, we spend a lot of time, time about mis- and disinformation around birth control, but I think there's like some really big birth control news that we should probably talk about for this year. And that's birth control not being over the counter.

Dr. Raegan: Woo-hoo! Yeah, super exciting. So many amazing advocates, reproductive justice folks have been working on this for a long time. I've been able to be a part of some of these communities for the last 10 years, so this feels like a long time coming, but I'm so excited about it. And definitely, like, it's a huge sea change, right? Like, when you think of rural communities for example, and how hard it is for someone to find a provider, make an appointment, travel to their provider to get access to birth control versus like how close their local drugstore is. And then, oh by the way, hopefully they'll be available for mail order as well. And so, then you can, like, circumvent all of that. So, it's a really exciting advancement. It is a progestin-only pill, which is less commonly used in the United States, but actually a really common method in many other countries. And it's just as effective as a combined oral contraceptive pill if used as prescribed. And that's really important for people to know, but it is different, right? And so, it doesn't have, like, that week of placebo pills, they're just like four weeks of active pills. People can have some irregular bleeding or unexpected spotting on it. And so, people need to understand that. And that's normal. It's not bad enough that it stops people from using it. In fact, a lot of the research shows that most people, as long as they understand that this is a possible side effect, it doesn't make them stop using it. They continue to use it. But it is important that people understand what this is, how it works, what the common side effects are. And another really important thing for people to know is that because it's a progestin only pill, that it has to be taken within a short timeframe. Meaning that if you take it at like 9:00 AM every day you have a three-hour window. So, if you get past noon and you haven't taken your pill that it may not be effective and you either need to not have sex for a couple of days or you use a backup method like a condom. But this is a really, really exciting advancement and something for us to be excited about and to celebrate. There have been so many attacks on reproductive health access and services over the last couple of years. It's really nice to have something to celebrate.

Jennie: Yeah, it was so great to have a win and it's so exciting to see it on the shelves now. Like it just makes me smile every time. And it's really great to hear you talk about the information that people need to know when going on on this particular pill because I just, I think back to like my early foray into birth control and like I feel like I definitely didn't get like all of the information and it can influence, like, staying on it but also the effectiveness of no one, like, explains to you like the best ways to use it.

Dr. Raegan: Exactly. Yeah. I mean, and that is my, has been my experience as a provider. It's like no method is perfect, right? And everyone's body is different. So, one person who takes a pill might have certain side effects or experience certain things and another person who takes the exact same pill might have no side effects or might have different ones. But what's really important is that people understand what the range is and what the most common side effects are. So, if they do experience them, they're like, "okay, I'm aware of this, you know, my provider talked to me about it or I read about this or I saw a TikTok video about this. This is normal, it will pass," right? And so that they can also know like this is not normal, like this is, this is not what they described. I'm having way more bleeding or I'm having pain in my leg, that's a warning sign and I need to go see a provider. So again, like information is a health equity issue and we have to be thinking outside of the box because that formal healthcare system is not serving people and it's particularly not serving people of color, not serving people with lower incomes and not serving people who identify as LGBTQ period and stop. And so, we have to be thinking outside of the box of how to connect people with health information or information about, you know, these services including and products including over the counter pills in a way that's accessible to them. And so that they feel comfortable and confident to be able to take the next steps and use these methods and still be able to get the information that they need or ask questions if they have questions. So, I'm really excited about the work that we're doing in that space and frankly I think there's so much more that we can and should be doing outside of the formal healthcare system to answer people's questions and empower them to take care of their health and optimize their reproductive wellbeing.

Jennie: Yeah, I've been excited to really see the ads on TV, like, every time one comes on 'cause again, you talk about the importance of information. So, like, if you didn't know that you could now go into the local drugstore and get it on the shelf like you wouldn't know to look. So, it's really been exciting to see the ads, all the information like trying to get pushed out on social media. 'cause Again, that lack of information, like if you don't know and you don't know to look for it, like, you can't use it.

Dr. Raegan: Exactly. And it's more important now than ever to make sure that we're educating people about this because it's gonna be right there next to the emergency contraception and someone may not understand like, oh when is, you know, I had unprotected sex, can I take this Opill for that? You know, is this just another form of emergency contraception? So, people need to understand that all of these things are great and appropriate over the counter, but when they, you know, should use one or the other. So yeah, a lot to celebrate, add a lot of work to do.

Jennie: Okay. So, I always like to wrap up and like not just have people worry about the bad things, but, like, what can they do? Like what actions can they take? So how can people in their individual lives fight mis- and disinformation?

Dr. Raegan: So, I think, you know, first of all, educating yourself, right? And then sort of educating yourself of how you can be able to identify facts versus opinions and facts versus myths. Being that champion for a young person who may not have, you know, comprehensive sex in their schools or someone that they can talk to about these things. And you don't have to have all the answers, just know a couple of resources to turn them towards. So, be aware of bedsider.org, powertodecide.org. It is May as Talking For Power Month. So, we'll be posting a lot of resources about how parents and champions can engage with young people in their lives to answer their questions and to sort of point them in the right direction. And it doesn't, again, you don't have to become an expert overnight in, like, sex and contraception and abortion, but just being willing to have the conversation and being willing to say, you know what? I don't know the answer to that, but let's find out is really, really critical. So, definitely check out all of our resources. A lot of them, again, are fun and provide lots of opportunities for you to engage with young people about these important conversations. Another tool that I find with the young people in my life that's really helpful is, like, if you see a television show or a movie that has a storyline around sex or pregnancy or reproduction—which happens like all the time, right—just like stop and ask the young person afterwards, like what did you think about that depiction of sex? Did that feel realistic to you? Does that feel like a healthy relationship? Did you see them use a condom? What does the condom negotiation look like, right? That's a really great opportunity. I had a conversation with a number of parents this past week at a medical conference about having conversations in the car with young people because, like, you don't have that like direct eye to eye contact when, when things can get really awkward and it's a great opportunity to just find out like what's going on with them at school? What are folks talking about? What are some of the myths that they had- that they've been exposed to? So, we talked earlier about approaches with providers, right? To sort of elevate for them and demonstrate obliquely that they may, you know, carry some misinformation. Those types of tactics can also be helpful and useful around young people to say, like, do you know that some people think that contraception is actually abortion? Let's talk about that more. Is that something that your friends think about or, you know, do you have questions about that? So, just being a trusted resource for the people around you I think is really, really important. And then again, knowing where young people can find access to high-quality, evidence-informed information that's hopefully resonant to them and fun to interact with.

Jennie: Yeah, I can't overstate the importance of having those conversations with your parent where they're giving you more information. This is part of my origin story into SRHR. But when I was in grade school, I don't know, fifth grade, maybe sixth grade, I had a friend—again, Catholic school—who asked me to, if I wanted to go save babies with her in Madison. And I mean obviously like, yes, I wanna save babies, and going home and asking my mom if I could go and she just, like, sat me down and had like a, “well, have you thought about X? Have you thought about: what about this? What about that?” And then what I found like, maybe not at the time, but looking back, like, so important and empowering was the, like: “okay, well if you still wanna go, you can go. So, what do you think?” And to me, that was this huge important conversation, and as I've gotten into this work and like have talked about it on the podcast and I've told my mom about it, she's like, I don't remember this. And like, so it was like such a huge thing to me and had clearly this lasting impact, but just getting more information and then being given the power to make up my mind was really important.

Dr. Raegan: I love that story. And so brilliant, right? To be like, I'm not, you know, totally not judgmental and if you wanna go, great, but like, have you considered these things or what, what might be behind this? And that's such a great model. It's also a really important reminder that we can have these meaningful, meaningful interactions with someone every day and not even realize it. Like it doesn't even register for us.

Jennie: Yep.

Dr. Raegan: And then they carry this forever, right? And now you're using this experience to now be this, like, source of information for all of your listeners. Like, how powerful is that? And as a provider especially, it's really important to remind myself of as well as all of the folks that I work with, right? It's like this is so mundane and so like every day to us, but this might be the only time that this person in front of us is interacting with our content or coming to see me in a health center and this feels really vulnerable for them. And so, while this is like, you know, the 10th patient of the day for me, like, we have to treat this as a really sacred and unique and vulnerable experience for the person in front of us, right? And we have to be mindful of that as we're creating content as well as how meaningful and impactful this would be. So, thank you for sharing that with me.

Jennie: Well, thank you for being here Dr. Raegan. I had such a great time talking to you. Likewise.

Dr. Raegan: This was so fun. I'd love to come back anytime and thank you so much for the important work that you're doing.

Jennie: You are always welcome.

Jennie: Okay y'all, I hope you enjoyed my interview with Dr. Raegan. I had so much fun talking to her about all things related to birth control. I can't wait to have her on again and I will see you all next week. [music outro] If you have any questions, comments, or topics you would like us to cover, always feel free to shoot me an email. You can reach me at jennie@reprosfightback.com or you can find us on social media. We're at @RePROsFightBack on Facebook and Twitter or @reprosfb on Instagram. If you love our podcast and wanna make sure more people find it, take the time to rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform. Or if you wanna make sure to support the podcast, you can also donate on our website at reprofightback.com. Thanks all!