7. CONTRACEPTION

^{Updated June 2025 by Jackie Mostow, MD, Allison Slater, MD, MBE and Ellen Stoke, MD}

This chapter will help you to learn how to support reproductive autonomy through a person-centered approach to contraceptive care by establishing rapport with each person, eliciting their preferences, utilizing the latest evidence to determine eligibility, and providing access for patients to start and stop the full range of methods.

Chapter Learning Objectives

Following completion of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Facilitate informed, person-centered choice in contraceptive care
• Describe options, indications, contraindications, side effects and common myths for specific contraceptive methods
• Understand issues around contraceptive counseling in the setting of abortion care

Videos

• Shared Decision Making Using a DecisionAid (IERH)
• Contraception 101 (IERH)
• Global Contraception (IERH)

Provider Resources

• Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use (MEC; apps available):
  • US CDC MEC
  • WHO MEC
• Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use (SPR; apps available):
  • CDC SPR
  • WHO SPR
• Bedsider Providers Page
• Family Planning National Training Center
• Reproductive Health Access Project 
• UCSF Bixby Beyond the Pill 

Client-Facing Educational Resources

• Your Birth Control Choices Factsheet (RHAP): available in many languages
• Patient Preference Counseling Chart (BTP): available in English + Spanish
• Birth Control Method Options (RHNTC): available in English + Spanish
• Birth Control (Bedsider): available in English + Spanish